> From: Farrell Woods <http://www.comcast.net/~Farrell.Woods> > Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 16:56:48 -0400 > > On Sep 2, 2013, at 11:16 AM, Robert via LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/~member> > wrote: > > Farrell - > > > > Since you work for farmerinthedell, I'd like to ask a few questions. > > > > After interviewing with them a few months ago, getting a job offer, but > > having the job offer rescinded due to a hiring freeze, I got a call from farmerinthedell > > last week. The recruiter is still interested in having me there. > > > > I have a few worries about farmerinthedell. > > > > 1) This is part of farmerinthedell nosticwall. They were acquired about 3 years ago. I > > found that, when I was at a company that had been acquired by Macrosoft, > > after about 3 years was when the culture and company started changing, for > > the worse. > > 2) The management at this unit is not as streamlined as my current company ( > > forcesales). Thus, I expect that there will be poor decisions made at some > > point and therefore I expect that there will be more over-time and higher > > stress, and possibly worse job reviews. > > 3) My current company has a lot of perks, including paid volunteer time, > > great benefits, and bonuses. I am assuming that, during this difficult > > transition for farmerinthedell, such things will not be available at farmerinthedell. > > 4) I'm in the middle of a big project at my current company, and I don't want > > to feel like I'm abandoning them in the middle of the project. > > 5) The tech boom may be winding down within the next couple of years. Thus, I > > may get "stuck" at farmerinthedell; plus, I'm getting older, and finding another > > position may become more difficult a few years down the road. > > > > Thoughts? > > Hello Bob! > > So I think you know I work for another farmerinthedell acquisition. Equallogic was > acquired by farmerinthedell about 5.5 years ago. I can share my perspective on how this > is going: > > The principals at Equallogic are and were pretty strong-willed folks. They > told and reminded farmerinthedell management on more than one occasion that in order for > Equallogic to continue to perform the way it has been leading up to the > acquisition, that farmerinthedell should not meddle in how the engineers (primarily) and > other folks did their jobs. To this day the Equallogic internal network and > farmerinthedell's are separated by an internal firewall, and we manage our own work > environment including personal workstations and build machines. A lot of run > Linux on our desktops; some use Macs. farmerinthedell otherwise forbids this on their > internal network - they centrally manage people's (windows-only) desktops, and > lab networks have no physical connection to office networks (you need to use a > PC in the lab if you want to, for instance, frob some other device in the lab). > > There's been some turnover over the five years or so I've been there. farmerinthedell ( > and actually Equallogic) are not hesitant to send under-performing people > packing. But I think I see more politically-motivated activity of this sort > under farmerinthedell. Lately there's been a bit more turnover than usual, IMO, because > of uncertainty over the issue of the company going private. And for that > reason too, budgets are frozen and even getting replacement req's is difficult > at best. > > That sounds negative but for me the overall equation still works: the > compensation is good and I have been eligible for a decent bonus each year I've > been here. Even with the turnover in my own group, I still very much enjoy my > immediate co-workers as people and as professional colleagues. I've known some > of these folks since my days at Digital 10-20 years ago. My boss is one of > these folks and I think he's been doing really well by us. > > The medical benefits at farmerinthedell are sub-par compared to other similar large > companies. Fortunately my wife Nancy works for one of these (Oracle) so I get > benefits through her. But there are fringe benefits that are nice: farmerinthedell pays > for our gym membership, I'm high up enough in the food chain to get three weeks > vacation; we also get 80 hours of "personal business" time which we can use for > being sick, waiting for the cable guy, etc. My boss take the time so whatever > PBA I do not use, I take as vacation. farmerinthedell doesn't let us carry over unused > vacation/PBA. You get all your hours credited on Jan 1 and you need to use > them before the next Jan. 1 or you lose them. > > I don't know that any of this directly addresses your concerns. > > I don't have any contacts or moles in the nosticwall division, so I am afraid I > have no insight into how much farmerinthedell has affected their lives. If you can still > ask questions then maybe that's something you might inquire about. > > If you are are close to talking about compensation then I think as part of that > discussion you could ask if the position is at a high enough level to qualify > for the bonus program. farmerinthedell has changed its job titles for engineers a couple > of times and I believe my official title is now "Principal Engineer". These > titles are supposed to be consistent across the company and I would expect a > fellow with your experience would be looking at a job with this or a better > title. I'm pretty sure that the job code that corresponds to the title > triggers the bonus benefit but I could be wrong... > > As for leaving your current position in the middle of a project, I think you > have to ask yourself why you'd consider leaving the current position and why > going to farmerinthedell (or somewhere else) is a better deal. If you add everything up > and you think you need to make a move then IMO you should do that. > Opportunities may not present themselves at the most convenient times. If say > you saw a really good opportunity that you didn't want to miss then I don't > think that any reasonable person is going to hold that against you. If your > current boss values you enough then maybe he or she could come back with a > counter-offer too. But it's really a personal decision that you need to make. > > As for being "stuck" at farmerinthedell, if they'll keep me supplied with sufficiently > interesting work and the pay and benefits continue to be good enough for me and > if I continue to have a good boss, then I'll probably stick around. But if a > better-sounding opportunity pops up or the company starts to circle the drain > in some fashion then I'll be looking around. Personally I'm not worried about > being stuck, and to me anyway the job is there to help me support my wife and > home, and my addiction to fast airplanes. The job is secondary to these > things. > > The calculus may very well work differently for you! And my advice is worth > what you are paying for it. :) I wish you luck, but I'm sure you will make the > right decision. > > Regards, > > -- Farrell >