Company: Oracle
Date: 2017-08-25
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Confirmed

A good school, a cheap employer
Pros: - You get exposed to a lot of technology right from the start.
- There's plenty of interesting training to take.
- Fairly intelligent people working with you as colleagues.
- There's a lot of opportunities to make your own career path and specialize in the field you like the most. (it's up to you, no ones gonna carry your development plan).
- The fact that you work/worked in Oracle is good for your career & market value.
Cons: - No salary hike, unless you change teams and somehow convince the new manager you need an adjustment according to your seniority. Or in the odd event you become a manager. (I've worked in different teams, trust me)
- Rare bonus given to IT positions compared to Sales.
- Performance appraisal has become an HR process that needs to be done by HR policy, doesn't really mean anything in the long run, compensation per performance evaluation is almost a myth in this company. (at least for IT positions, exec/sales is a different story)
- IT talent retention is minimum: your having a lot of talented people going elsewhere because their market value is 1.5 times the one your paying them, compared to the new hires that every year get a bigger starting salary than the last. Try to think how a senior feels when he/she gets told to train a new hire junior that earns more with no experience whatsoever OR how a senior feels when a new hire gets a higher position/rank in the team.
- Internal awards are just for showing medals in your profile. If you get them it means little compensation in terms of money or they will offer you an external training (of their source choice) that can only be related to your current work, and if you ask for a certification exam voucher you need to succeed in passing, or "you pay the fine". (exact words from exec)
- A lot of managers in IT Departments with no IT background, although it creates a lot of interesting off the record talks, it looks bad as an IT company.