NetApp

What you can accomplish here is basically limited only by you. If you see something that needs doing, it's not that hard to sell it and get started. There's a lot of freedom here.

At the same time, if you're a junior person looking to learn stuff, there are great mentors here. If you're technical, don't be put off by the idea that this is a storage outfit; there are all kinds of interesting things to work on here.

Great communication from upper management. I used to work at a place where you'd read something about your company in the paper before you'd hear it from The Boss. Here, they trust you not to share information with 200 of your closest friends in the securities industry.

And speaking of the boss, our chairman/CEO and the president/COO are outstanding guys. You know that they're interested in the company's future and not in this just to get rich themselves (Dan would have quit a long time ago if that were the case).

They are here to create an enduring organization that will contribute to the industry long-term, and thus have no problem telling the stock analysts, "We're gonna invest in the company's future, rather than doing artificial stuff to make you guys happy this quarter."

I love it when execs at a public company this size can say that -- and do!

As someone else has noted, we are trying to grow into the size we have become.

Though the small-company feel is great, it comes at the price of some immaturity in the area of "processes." So we have got to work on that.

A lot of your experience at NetApp (as anywhere) depends on who your direct supervisor is. Get assigned to a bad one, and things will not be so happy.

We have good managers and bad managers. While working for one of the latter, I considered leaving NetApp. So, whereas I'd hate to run every manager through "Management for Dummies," some of them surely need it.

The same can be said for engineers, but improving managers has higher potential.