Company: Oracle
Date: 2017-07-14
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current

Changing times
Pros: Big name with sizable existing customer base. Excellent benefits. There is some good experience to be gained. Oracle is tailoring its hiring efforts to India and college grads, so if you are in either of those areas, there could be opportunities and those areas/jobs will see the most investment and potential for job growth.
Cons: Given that Oracle is late to the Cloud market and that margins aren't what they used to be (for on-premise hardware and software), the focus is on now on cutting internal costs by eliminating many perks/benefits, finding cheaper labor and getting rid of experienced (translation: higher paid) personnel. Once hired by Oracle, raises are almost unheard of and opportunities to advance are minimal. It is very likely that there are other companies which are experiencing growth/success that can offer better overall compensation, culture and career growth.

From a technology standpoint, Oracle is a laggard. The strategy for a while has been to buy other companies once it becomes apparent that Oracle is missing out on a technical market. Given that a person's job will focus on what Oracle offers today, there is a real risk of falling behind in the job marketplace if one doesn't make sure to spend personal time to keep up.

At the core of all of this is the culture. Top management is narcissistic and ruthless which ends up working its way through many parts of the company. It is common to have departments compete against each other instead of working together in the best interest of the customer. It is all about profit, so it isn't uncommon to hear stories of partners, employees and customers getting screwed over.