Oracle

Benefits:

You can work with some amazingly smart people.

Teams are global, so work/life balance means you should be available whenever they want you.

They might not say this out loud, but they say it in their actions if you refuse.

Long-term, top-performing employees are cut without batting an eye. No opportunities are given to transfer because they really could care less about the people. I was shocked at who they decided to lay off versus who they kept.

They prefer to hire from India so they can pay less and expect them to work at whatever schedule they are given. There are lots of late evening meetings for them.

Technology is stale.

Pay could be better.

• They used to give bonuses, but no more.
• They used to give raises, but hardly ever anymore, and if you get one, it's minimal.

They prefer to give stock options instead, but then you have to wait 4 years for them to vest, so they are worthless if you don't stay that long. I prefer my "raise" in the same timeframe I am working in. Oracle is cheap.

Career advancement is really just based on how long you've been there. Performance evals are a waste of time. You self-appraise, and maybe you have a manager that actually spends time giving feedback, but most of them don't bother because they know it makes no difference.

There isn't a lot of sense of family/camaraderie among people. You have to really work hard at making friendships and getting to know people outside of work.

Stop treating your people like a number; treat them with respect and be kind. That goes a lot further than treating them like you could care less.