Company: Oracle
Date: 2014-05-14
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Good place if you're young or "mature," but not so good in the middle
Pros: Execs at the top are obviously doing something right to acquire dozens of companies over the last few years, assimilate them all, and still expand profits and customers. There are some RIFs occasionally, but it's relatively stable and secure if you perform to expectations.

All of my development contacts and development managers have been supportive, pleasant, helpful, thorough, and responsive. I also have utmost respect for the other writers on my team.
Cons: I rated compensation and benefits with only two stars not because of the benefits, which are good, but because of the lack or total absence of merit increases year after year. After having completed almost ten years, I haven't gotten one increase. I was thankfully hired at market value all those years ago. I'm approaching retirement, so am biding my time, but if I were a decade younger, I would have looked elsewhere long ago. I'm not the only one in this situation. Most of my colleagues all the way up to the VP level are experiencing the same thing. Five executives at the top made $250 million in 2013, whereas the other 100K+ employees are mostly left behind, making the company the poster child for the inequality we hear about these days.

The company is best for those under 30 who are learning and advancing, and those over 50 who are in the latter portion of their careers and want a stable place to work to avoid "Too young to retire and too old to hire." For those in the middle, probably 3-5 years is workable before needing to look elsewhere for a pay increase.

The workload can be heavy at times, and they only hire more staff members as a last resort. We're lucky to have departing employees replaced.