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Overall a great company to work at, beware of toxic managers though - MTS2 Software Engineer VMware Employee Review

5.0
Nov 12, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits - additional health insurance, employee help programs, discount programs, multisport(paid by self, not the company), company (almost) weekly events. Good working conditions (overall pay, office and home-office options). Most of the teams are agile. Pluralsight, LinkedIn, Rosetta stone free subscriptions. Multicultural and great diversity. Minimal to no pay gap. Regular product releases. Overall if you want to have a stable job which has a good compensation package - this is a great place. Overall company culture is amazing - supportive, bright. Amazing office with many benefits on site - snacks & drinks (fresh orange juice, smoothies, great coffee machines, cola, beers on event days) in the office, very good adjustable work desks with options for 1 or 2 monitors, desk reservation system, showers, meeting rooms for meetings with different people count (1 to 12), relax rooms, kitchen on each floor with equipped microwave and multiple refrigerators and utensils, big underground parking free for employees, electrical cars and bikes reservable via an internal system.

Cons

Once in a team, unless you invest some of your personal time, you won't get promoted to the next level (might be harder for people with families). On paper there are many growth opportunities (free available subscriptions, a program which allows reimbursment of education/courses you have paid for, Programs which allow switching a team for a short time), however for the first you rarely get to apply as the budget is limited and very few are approved, and the other types are sometimes used as punishment by making a person go work in another team or take vacation time off. Most teams say they work agile, however often you would see they don't even keep a board with tasks updated. Due to the diversity in managerial styles in some teams, there could be some toxic traits such as calling an employee on a weekend day, to ask them to fix a bug, however having just a verbal agreement on taking a day/half a day off without any recording that the person has actually worked overtime, or insulting colleagues or people's work straight on, or intentional undermining of colleague's/employee's work in order to promote other employee/self. If you have a problem with your direct colleagues/management you would rather be shamed by HR/management if you dare to complain to them, than have any help to resolve the a conflict in a peaceful manner, indirectly forcing you to either switch teams/products or the company altogether. Slow onboarding due to complexity of products and difference in team responsibilities and tech stack.

Explore other reviews about VMware

5.0
Jun 24, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

VMware is a big company but in many ways had a startup vibe. That was great because the resources and infrastructure of a big company were there, but it gave most people I worked with freedom to work on many projects, influence, move around, and contribute in many ways. Plus, many things moved faster than they might at other companies of the same size. Perks were really great including bonuses, events on the campus, opportunities, etc.

Cons

The biggest con is the annual layoff. During most of the years I was there, we were growing like crazy, beating expectations, gaining in stock price, etc. It was always positive and upward. However, every single January, it was known that there would be a round of layoffs, even when all numbers were looking great as they almost always were. Management called it restructuring. But, over the years, some really good people were let go for no apparent reason. Then to add insult to injury, a week or two later, there would be a company quarterly meeting discussing how VMware was doing so well and is still hiring, but they had to make some changes. It always felt dishonest and the sympathy for those let go came across as disingenuous.

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