Company: Oracle
Date: 2017-05-01
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Luck of the Draw
Pros: One of the nice things about Oracle is that you can get a lot of help while you're starting out. Since it's a large company, there's tons of websites you can search for presentations, learning materials, demos, VMs, etc. And there's always someone who is well-versed in a particular product or tool that you can reach out to.

During my time at oracle, I had an excellent manager who made sure I was rewarded for putting in hard work. If you have a good manager, they will do the best they can for you within the limits Oracle sets. 

You meet a lot of people that, within a short period of time, will be successful and move to other companies. Your network will be plump, so if you ever want to change jobs, there's a lot of a help.

Overtime is strictly not allowed outside of field, so you can be sure you will have a great work-life balance. Rules are lax on start/end time, especially on Fridays, so you definitely don't feel overworked.

Good healthcare, dental, and vision. Decent local discounts for movie tickets, dinners, etc.
Cons: Getting a good manager is luck of the draw. I've known a lot of people, who started when I did, that quit because their manager didn't fight for their quarterly bonus, didn't provide help or direction, and generally didn't care. 

A theme that you will find at Oracle is that some people care A LOT about their job, and work hard, but many use Oracle as a chill out job,  and generally don't care at all about their work. You need to stick with the people who care, and avoid the people who try to get you to do their work for them, then you will enjoy it.

Your manager can only do so much for you. Oracle has extremely rigid rules. e.g.
- You can't receive a raise for the same job title
- You can only be promoted or switch positions after an exact amount of time (i.e. 1 year) from a previous transition
- If you go above and beyond, your manager can only give you a few % points above 100% for your bonus, and they have to take it from the rest of the team
- Promotions are done in bulk, you can't be promoted one-off from the rest of a group.

They have set raises for internal promotions. It's hard to negotiate (if at all). Oracle is always said to be a "great 1st and 3rd job." If you want to be paid fairly, you need to quit, and come back after a year to be paid well.