Company: Oracle
Date: 2008-12-30
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Not for the money, just freedom.
Pros: I find the management team I work for is quite honest and open about issues I care about most.  There is still quite a bit of openness and reception to ideas and recommendations, however to really make it go anywhere you've got to take the project on yourself and track their progress thoroughly.

Management is also very much hands off, you are responsible for getting work done your way.  If you need help, ask and most people will step up to help out.  The support from resources all over the world is exceptional, you'll make many new friends.
Cons: I have never known it to be a place where there was a good balance between work and life.  I find I'm always needing to work outside of regular office hours and if travel is required there is little support for your travel restrictions.  This office is also simply another sub of Oracle USA, so there is no executive management present to set direction and tone.  Employee support is minimal from an HR/Payrol/etc.  If you want to participate is social activities, forget about it unless your team puts something together.  With the exception of regular blood donor clinics there are no formally organized events.

Constant salary and transfer/hiring freezes make it difficult to get a raise or move to another team - acquisitions and the economy are classic excuses.  Apparently senior executive management is also involved in all hiring and salary adjustments making it really difficult to get anywhere on these fronts.