Company: Oracle
Date: 2008-08-22
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former

Oracle requires Fight in the Dog
Pros: Oracle is recognized world-wide as the leading provider of database technology.  It is an A-list company on any resume.  There are numerous opportunities to grow professionally within Oracle, but doing so will take require some "fight-in-the-dog".

Oracle offers a competitive workplace with a great number of people with less than two years of employment with the company.  Constant turnover results in fresh ideas and an opportunity to take ownership of orphaned projects.  The company employs a very diverse and international group at the headquarters in Redwood Shores, CA, which allows for a diverse social network in off hours.  It's benefits are generally in-line with any global corporation.
Cons: Oracle is focused on promoting use of its database technology stack for any purpose.  This is a fundamental engineering blunder: one tool does not solve all problems.  Oracle faces significant competition from open source alternatives that are eating away at its customer base, and it is not clear how it will compete against OSS alternatives.

Within Oracle, the diversity and use of H1-B talent results in significant infighting between groups, and within groups.  In the dot-com bust years, many foreign workers may have found themselves in a position to work significantly harder than US citizens to hold onto their job, or face layoffs.  Oracle actively uses layoffs to trim its workforce.