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Not so fun place to work - Senior Software Engineer VMware Employee Review

1.0
12 Jan 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Technology technology technology....you get to work on the latest and niche technology. You have a young and dynamic team members working along with you who love exploring new technologies. People who are passionate about IT and MDM have a great scope here.

Cons

A specific group of people talk in their native language and i can hardly get what they are discussing. And i get a feeling that the better chunk of work is given to the same group as well by the lead(who by the way belongs to the same set). The HR team is of no use here. All the decisions are taken by only 2 people, both being spearheads of technology group. The policies are not so great as far as work life balance is concerned. The work from home concept exists but only to a privileged few. They do encourage people in participating in Hackathons and patent filing and white paper submissions, but its made as a part of your goals rather than a self/team innovation and very much becomes a criteria for your hikes and promotion. They look for a person to be in office and work 24hrs just be given an average rating. After VMware acquisition, thought the policies would be changed, but there were no significant changes to benefit us. All we Indian employees get is to reimburse gym bills and got an upgrade on the referral bonus, no leave policy change(just 15 days of leaves), no so called VMWare employee perks showcased,nor did anyone come and let us know what policies are coming into effect. If someone is merely passionate about work and who is looking for research kind of roles without expecting any employee benefits, this is the right place for you to be the managers fav.

Explore other reviews about VMware

5.0
24 Jun 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

VMware is a big company but in many ways had a startup vibe. That was great because the resources and infrastructure of a big company were there, but it gave most people I worked with freedom to work on many projects, influence, move around, and contribute in many ways. Plus, many things moved faster than they might at other companies of the same size. Perks were really great including bonuses, events on the campus, opportunities, etc.

Cons

The biggest con is the annual layoff. During most of the years I was there, we were growing like crazy, beating expectations, gaining in stock price, etc. It was always positive and upward. However, every single January, it was known that there would be a round of layoffs, even when all numbers were looking great as they almost always were. Management called it restructuring. But, over the years, some really good people were let go for no apparent reason. Then to add insult to injury, a week or two later, there would be a company quarterly meeting discussing how VMware was doing so well and is still hiring, but they had to make some changes. It always felt dishonest and the sympathy for those let go came across as disingenuous.

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