Company: Oracle
Date: 2008-08-11
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former

Oracle - False Advertising.
Pros: Oracle has name recognition.  When you call into a company, there is an immediate door opened for you.  It is difficult to find someone in a position dealing with IT needs that is not familiar with Oracle.

Oracle also offers extensive training to their employees.  Regular webinars are offered on various topics relating to the product line that you are working with and Oracle University is available as well, to learn about yours, as well as other segments of their business.

As I mentioned Oracle is a large corporation.  Unlike some small software companies, you never have to worry if your check will clear.
Cons: Oracle is a large company.  What this means is that they are less concerned with individual employees.  It is very easy to be lost in the masses, some 70,000+ employees.  Regardless of performance, you are just a part in the machine.  This also means that inferior managers are allowed to run amok.  Rather than reign them in, it is easier for upper management to ignore their immature antics, just to have a warm body in place.  As long as they at least have that cheerleader mentality, it does not matter if their teams loathe them and they are completely ineffectual.

I saw this in the field sales team as well.  I witnessed one rep in particular go nearly 2 years without closing a deal while bragging about his 6 figure salary.  Once again, people get lost in the chaos, and fat that should be trimmed is not.

They don't eat their own dog food.  They don't use the products internally that they sell to their customers.  And there is no reason for this.  Their home grown applications are useless and archaic.  They push out the latest and greatest to customers, while saddling their employees with tired, useless systems.  I won't name the specific application, but if you've been there you know what I'm talking about.  But, then again, with an outside sales force incapable of operating the same applications that they are selling, I can see where they may not see how it would matter.