AOL Reviews

The quality of leadership is questionable in every sense. This Microsoft and AOL partnership really could have been something marvelous instead everyone seems lost with no clear direction on where we are heading and how to make this successful. There will always be the "talk" of how everyone is happy and everything is running smoothly, but it's lies and every employee knows it. They need to stop treating us as if we are ignorant. Logic is ceases to exist here at all. When asking why certain process are in place there is no clear answer apart from "that's how we do things here". How is this going to be successful when the management can't take on suggestions about how to do things better. Microsoft partnering with AOL was a very bad move indeed. It's a complete shambles compared to the wonderful company we came from. We've been successful and how we did things worked there, hence why we achieved quota year after year (Have AOL been achieving quota every year? NO is the answer). This will be the first time it will be a failure and it's because they can't get off their pedestals to take on suggestions that can make things better around here. The calibre of talent at AOL is unimpressive compared to Microsoft and Milennial Media. Especially the managers running the teams, they are not good leaders and quite simply are drowning. A good manager and leader takes on the feedback from people working the job day to day but here nobody wants to entertain change. These same managers would never have been hired had they applied for a position at Microsoft. The difference in talent is crystal clear. There is clearly so much resentment from AOL folk when we came here, especially around taking on the top positions. Maybe this happened because the Microsoft employees are a level above. While I'm on the topic, people should take a moment to reflect on why Microsoft partnered with AOL. It wasn't because we were a failing business. It was because Microsoft wanted to have a larger focus on their software/hardware and search businesses. So AOL'ers should perhaps take that on board when they think about why we are here. We were a success there and we can be a success here if they actually take on board the changes that need to be made.

Where to begin? First, don't plan on a long tenure. The company is surviving by decreasing labor costs, which translates into layoffs once a quarter. It doesn't matter what your performance rating was, or what your skill set it. Layoffs are just a matter of life as an AOL employee. Second, expect no coherent direction. Senior management changes directions quite frequently, so you may find yourself working on a high priority one day only to find (usually through the grapevine) that your project isn't very important at all. Priorities change so frequently that it's difficult to keep track, and despite Tim's claims to the contrary, senior management doesn't bother to communicate. Third, don't expect career advancement. While friends of the senior management team tend to advance rapidly, others do not. In my 10+ years at AOL I saw only 3 people get promoted. Fourth, don't expect great raises. While Tim and his team bring home huge salaries, the staff receive paltry 1-2% raises. The idea of "share the wealth" does not exist at AOL. Fifth, do not expect brilliance at senior levels. While I found that the skills at the worker levels were extremely high -- there are some truly brilliant people working at AOL -- the same is not true of senior managers. Moreover, they tend to avoid trying to understand complex issues, preferring instead to reduce matters to simple PowerPoint decks. Senior managers are prone to rather stupid comments (remember Tim's "distressed babies") in staff meetings. The quarterly all-hands meetings were touted as a mechanism to make sure that everyone understood how the company was doing and that we were all focused on the right priorities, but instead were nothing more than rah-rah pep rallies to let the VPs talk about how great they were doing. Sixth, do not expect communications. While the team management team tries to convey goals and priorities to the staff, divisional and sub-divisional managers rarely provide any clues as to what is important, which projects we should be heading in what direction, or even how we're doing. It's a classic case of the staff working in a vacuum. Seventh, do not expect brilliance and innovation. The staff frequently comes up with ideas that rival some of the best on the net, but the product management team is intent on keeping their "not invented here" mentality. While we're encouraged to think outside the box, in reality new ideas are discouraged, to the point where money-making products are being shut down. Eighth, do not expect what you work on to ever go live. The halls of AOL are littered with products that were conceived, approved, developed, tested, and then killed without ever being released. Many of these products pre-dated competing products on the net, and some of those became quite successful. Staff layoffs and changing management priorities are killing innovation. Ninth, expect that mail is the sole and dominant priority. It is true that the majority of AOL visitors come from mail, but the emphasis on mail by senior management is preventing development of new products. They have not realized that mail has become a commodity on the net. Tenth, expect long hours and a high stress environment. While most managers tend to be flexible for work / life issues, the constant changing priorities, long hours expected, and constant layoffs combine to create a work environment that is anything but collaborative or productive. On any given day you may come into work to find that your project is dead and you are out of a job. There are more cautions to provide, but by now I hope the reader has an idea. Avoid AOL at all costs.