Company: Oracle
Date: 2016-01-27
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Feeling like a number on a spreadsheet
Pros: - I have a good deal of autonomy in my position and do not feel micromanaged
- My initial salary was competitive
Cons: - Communication from top level management is nearly non-existent. If you like to work at a company that values you as a person and keeps open lines of communication, Oracle is not that company.  If you are not in the tiny inner circle of Exec VPs at the highest level, you only find out about decisions after they have been made.  There is absolutely no transparency there.
- In multiple years working here I received exactly one (1) salary increase of 2% (which was confirmed by others in my team).  Do NOT plan on getting any salary increases at this company - even cost of living increases.
- In 2015 they FORCED employees to take off four days over Christmas as vacation days so that they could remove unused vacation from their balance sheet.  I've never worked at a company that dictated how and when employees use their vacation hours.  This was evil enough to warrant various stories in the national media, so sounds like it was a first for them, too...
- The internal systems Oracle utilizes for time entry, expense report logging, etc. are completely inadequate and use 1987 Java applet-based technology.  Despite having a reputation for being a leader in software, Oracle's clunky internal systems (the same ones they sell to customers, in fact) reflect the fact that the only reason they remain competitive is due to acquiring other companies and their existing customer base.
- Before any salary increases could be given, Larry Ellison himself needed to authorize them.  And this at a company of 140,000+ people.  Talk about trust issues and a colossal CEO ego...