Company: Oracle
Date: 2016-01-28
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

ASR (Applications) in Austin TX
Pros: Stable work environment with little chance of being fired unless you really screw up multiple times. If you are lucky to make commission, these checks can be extremely substantial if you can put up with the BS involved. Work/life balance is pretty good so far. This is the first job I've worked where I can leave at 5pm on the dot and no one cares.
Cons: There are a lot but I'll try and stick to the top four. 

1. Long Sales Cycles - I've sold to companies of all sizes but this by far has to be the longest sales cycle for two reasons. First, for customers to make huge IT investments and change the status quo, it takes time to move through this. No quick decisions by any means. Second, Oracle's internal processes are so ridiculous that its been Oracle's own fault why we can't get contracts out to customers. Then the end of the quarter comes and its a mad scramble so management doesn't look bad but we look like idiots & nasty sales people to the customer. 

2. Convoluted and Outdated Processes - Oracle loves to brag about all the companies we've acquired. I believe the number is upwards of 100 in the past 10 years. We have one co-CEO practically dedicated to just acquisitions! With that said, just to integrate 100 companies into Oracle with no real strategy other than to exploit their customer base, is just a mess. Its really a travesty that Oracle's internal systems, the ones we sell everyday to customers, are not used to improve ourselves. To get anything done quickly is a joke. Quick by Oracle standards is getting a contract for a customer who is ready to buy now in a about 2-4 weeks. I'm amazed Oracle has lasted 40 years but we don't have a proper CRM that can tell us which of the 60 Oracle Reps contacted the Director of IT last in an account.

3. One of Many - If you can't work well with people or like to act like a lone wolf, you will die here. Not a quick death either, a slow, drawn out death because you die on the vine from not making money till you resign. Most ASRs are paired up with a Field Rep (ASM) or in my case multiple people like an ASM, Key Account Director (KAD) and Global Advisor (GA). Since Oracle Direct is a revolving door, most ASMs, KADs and GAs pay very little attention to ASRs and kinda see them as a nuisance. Because Oracle is reliant on so many teams, groups, partners, if you can't get along with these people, life at Oracle will be hard and frustrating. If you resign, someone else naive as you were when you started will pick up where you left off. You're just another cog in the machine. No surprise but I didn't think it would be so noticeable this soon.

4. Class Of Program - To further this vicious cycle of Oracle Direct being a revolving door, Oracle is relying on the "Class Of" program to build its workforce, recruiting freshly graduated college grads to work in Oracle Direct. One of my colleagues was in the first ever recruiting class and of the 500 or so that started in 2013, about 6 are still with Oracle in 2015. Some of the class ofs get lucky, like one of my 22 year old colleagues. They were lucky enough to run some deals in Q2 and made 1000+% of their number and was honored as our team's MVP while being acknowledged at many different management levels. Way to go colleague! Did I mention they never even spoke to a customer and I get to hear them tell other people on the sales floor that they're the #1 sales rep on our team?