Company: Oracle
Date: 2013-12-20
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

I got to work on some really interesting things and had some great customers, but I was just a number.
Pros: Steady financial results through tough economic times.  Lots of momentum leading to job security.  Good pay and benefits.  Good exposure to lots of customers, and your work as a product manager affects so many people, you get a following.  

Lots of the people I worked with were top-notch.  Many domains in the company are world class, such as sales execution, many parts of IT such as BI, and some of the development teams.

When I was acquired by Oracle, I expected horrifying politics because of stories I'd heard through the years.  At my level, this was not the case - I found the politics to be pretty average.

Lots of flexibility to telecommute.

People in the outside world respect the brand.
Cons: Not a people-oriented company.  They would have been happy for me to stay in the same job until I retire.  The people making staffing decisions were so many levels up, they didn't really know what I did.  They hired somebody from outside the company to do the next exciting project that had been promised to me by my direct management - that's why I finally left.

As a product manager, you don't get to work on the roadmap. All product direction and business planning is done by Thomas Kurian at the EVP level and passed down to you.  There are ways to influence things indirectly, but you have to really work your network.

This is a truly international company, and acquired teams are left geographically where there were when they were acquired.  Those are good things, but the con for many people is that you rarely have face-to-face contact with many of your peers.  Like many tech companies, you have early morning and late evening calls around the world that disrupt your home life.

This is a huge company, so things move slowly and there is lots of overhead.  You will get to work with lots of customers, but you will not get much done in development.   I got more done the first year at my next job than I did in 4 years at Oracle.

I would still recommend this company to somebody who is interested in a very stable job and good benefits, but not to somebody who wants to change the world.  More than at other companies, you have to actively work the system if you want to keep growing your skills and get new opportunities, and you have less control over your tasks and destiny.