Palo Alto Networks

• Good benefits and salary.
• A good company to have on your resume.

Mid-level management (at least in my experience) was not open to new ideas, feedback, or suggestions. They also seemed to be selected by task execution and how "obedient" they were to their higher managers, without any consideration for interpersonal skills or the experience direct reports below them would have.

Consistently performing well on tasks often led to an immediate assignment of new ones, frequently with unrealistic, very optimistic deadlines. Even when complex projects were completed ahead of schedule, recognition was minimal. Instead, the focus quickly shifted to the next task, and any subsequent missed deadline could negatively impact the not-at-all-guaranteed bonus. There was always constant pressure to complete tasks in time, even if you had done well.

There was very poor communication between different internal teams, even ones working on the same product. Getting assistance or input from another team often depended on personal connections within that team (by you, your team members, or your manager) rather than an established teamwork process, leading to significant delays and inefficient, "hacky" solutions.

This one is probably dependent on the team and product, as the company is constructed by many acquired startups, but in my personal experience, there are limited growth and innovation opportunities. Management is not open at all to new ideas and feature suggestions, even though "disruption" is one of their core values. Suggestions for product improvements, even those with clear potential benefits, were often dismissed as low priority or relegated to Jira tickets that will never be addressed, with a "if clients haven't explicitly asked for it, it's not needed" mentality.