employer cover photo
employer logo

Terrible Place to Work. - Anonymous employee VMware Employee Review

1.0
14 July 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

GREAT people (aside from leadership), casual dress, great location

Cons

TERRIBLE work/life balance. Upper Management leads by fear. 95% of employees are working their tails off and have (easily) 120 hours of work to do and are expected to get it all done without mistakes. If you miss even the smallest thing you'll get "do we need to replace you?" The software doesn't perform well enough to keep customers happy, and the services team is the scapegoat when there is a bug. Ridiculous. QA doesn't have enough time to do sufficient testing before a new version is released, but CEO insists on having the most features and functionality at the sacrifice of quality. If you decide to work here, you better have tough skin, be ready to be humiliated and condescended to while working 70-80 hours a week on a product that doesn't work consistently. and I repeat, leadership is awful. Here's hoping VMWare changes that, but being based in Silicon Valley I have little hope there will be any real changes, other than free drinks in the break room. Paid time off is a joke. 13 days which includes sick time.

Explore other reviews about VMware

5.0
24 June 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.

71
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All