Verisign Reviews

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – A company populated with some of the most technical people you'll ever meet. The pay in years 1-3 is competitive. You will have the chance to work on systems critical to the entire Internet, or, write the software that runs on them.

Cons – You'd better negotiate a high pay rate when you first join because that's pretty much what you'll earn your entire time at VeriSign. It doesn't matter if you're on your 10th year, you'll be luck to ever get a promotion, and "raises" barely meet cost of living for the area while your counterparts at other local companies often receive double cost of living raises. You will eventually need to leave just to keep up with your peers.

The non-senior management employees who have been around for 10+ years, and know they're never going to do better no matter how hard they work, and that new guys are being hired on at higher rates than they are getting, have mostly given up, and this hurts moral as people resent picking up their slack.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop trying to manage your most technical people with "career managers" who are not at all technical, and are only placed in the position due to their administrative abilities. Your sysadmins, your coders, your data center engineers, etc... these people need managers who can speak to what their people are actually working on, not what time of day they arrived at the office or when they're scheduled to take vacation. Your employees crave direction, and forward looking plans, not reactionary panic.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Verisign

Pros – Benefits were above the norm.

Cons – If you were a (typically male) friend of a Sr. executive- VeriSign was a great place to work. You really didn't even need a job description to get your VP title and privileges. But for everyone else- it was next to impossible to get noticed, promoted, etc. There were more VP's running around who a) had no direct reports and b) had no job description but c) were protected by an Executive. Very disruptive to moral and to those who worked hard and did not get noticed. Additionally come annual performance time- managers were given a "funded pool" and could divide up bonus and stock payouts based on favoritism.

Advice to Senior Management – Assign specific roles and responsibilities commensurate with job title. Make bonus payouts by team not individual and leave manager to make sure everyone on team is playing to level of rest of team.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – Great benefit package. Everything else is a take it or leave it sort of situation. Can't say that I thought it was all that great.

Cons – You are nothing but a cog in a huge machine. Failure is rewarded, and there's no real reason to excel.

Advice to Senior Management – Please take innovation more seriously. Take stake in your employees and their ideas. Stop being so outright stuffy. Verisign is basically the "Office Space" in real life.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – Good pay and benefits package, industry brand, decent work life balance for engineering teams, relatively stable job situation now after major divestitures

Cons – politically charged culture, low appreciation and no reward for going beyond regular duties, stale ideation with a large % of long-timers

Advice to Senior Management – Improve recognition for good work, promote and reward exceptional performance to improve meritocracy, introduce 360 degree reviews to truly implement people first culture and deter autocratic managers

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – Generally, very high quality people so there is less wear and tear with toxic personalities. Fun activities for the different work groups.

Cons – Layoffs, weak management at the top. The products are interesting, but they aren't always able to be competitive. There are lots of legacy products that are showing their age.

Advice to Senior Management – Fund innovative ideas. Take care who you lay off so you don't dump the meat with the fat. Still need a strong CEO.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – Compensation is good, you are always busy, and you are not discouraged from taking on interesting responsibilities if you see an opportunity. If you are in the right department and a favorite, you can do really well.

Cons – Burnout. The amount of work done by a very small number is exhausting and people are wrung dry. Also there is a lot of favoritism. People are promoted to VP with no or few direct reports, while other people who do a great job, have large teams, and get consistently high reviews are not promoted. There is very little chance for professional development in many departments, particularly engineering.

Advice to Senior Management – Settle down, pick a strategy, and stick with it for at least a couple of years. It's been hard with all the change in management, but it's also strange to spend months completely reorganizing the company and planning a new strategy only to completely change everything less than a year later.

I worked at Verisign

Pros – They are a leader in online security so brand recognition is there.

Cons – As a consultant, you are treated poorly overall and talked down to. There are alot of inept managers who are only concerned with themselves and how good they look to upper management. They don't have any training on how to be a good manager. New ideas are dismissed and there is too much favoritism being played out. There are very limited career opportunities available and no help in getting an advice.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid the inept managers and cancerous employees who are killing moral for the overall team. Get clear on which direction the company needs to go next.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Verisign

Pros – Compensation is very generous for aggressive, politically active employees. Generous for well connected or those that did a good job of negotiating when they came in. But if you depend on the good will of the management for generous compensation you will be disappointed.

Cons – The disrespect shown for employees, the promotion of politically connected employees that are unqualified for the positions and the utter last of accountability for mistakes and poor job performance for politically connected employees. The lack of communication with management and low morale.

Advice to Senior Management – What senior management? The CEO and CFO are temporary.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Verisign

Pros – There are some really smart and interesting people at VeriSign. There is no shortage of talent, at least not at the middle management tier and below. The trick is putting the right people in the right jobs

Cons – Lack of direction at the top means spinning wheels down the chain. For several years the company has had to focus on righting the ship after a number of poor and expensive acquisition decisions. That inward focus has reduced the ability of the company to innovate across its product lines. A revolving door of management personnel has further compounded VeriSign's problems.

Advice to Senior Management – Create a clear, 5-year vision for what the company wants to be and stick to it.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Verisign

Pros – You will have name recognition when you go out for your next job interview. Verisign did accomplish at least one thing correctly in that they created a brand name that is recognized, at least within the security industry.

Cons – Highly political environment. Incredible dishonesty both inside and outside (customer facing). Felt constant pressure to get with the program even though it felt dishonest and just plain wrong.

Advice to Senior Management – Create and enforce a proper code of ethics policy. Utilize some of these traits when promoting people. There's a very strong tendancy to promote people because they screwed up in their current job so they get another job to screw up.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend