AOL Reviews in Washington, DC Area

Pros

smart people
nice people
decent professional development/learning opps if you're self-directed
some interesting projets
fun outings occasionally
company possibly on the upswing

Cons

culture of scarcity and fear of layoffs
changes business models frequently
management was (changing w/Tim Armstrong) risk averse and inclined to blatantly copy competitors rather than consider interesting creative design solutions/directions
need to defend yourself for working there and not being a hack with no other options

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up efforts w/rebranding and building new brand loyalty; buil doff core strengths of the existing loyal demographic and give them an updated experience they can be happy with; don't dumb down the experience any more than it is

Pros

+ Opportunity to work on some interesting products
+ Genuinely passionate employees
+ Opportunity to have your products used by many people
+ Can really drive business, if given the opportunity

Cons

+ Plenty of change in management leads to uncertainty
+ "Strategic" initiatives often lead to overbearing bureaucracy
+ Overlap in groups leads to duplication of effort, uncoordinated strategies

Advice to Senior Management

+ Provide clear strategy and focus for employees
+ Reward employees who succeed measurably
+ Provide opportunities for employees to contribute, regardless of level

Pros

Interesting work and some great colleagues

Cons

It was very political environment. Sometimes employees would just align themselves with executives and stroke their ego to keep their positions

Advice to Senior Management

Please deter politics and really focus on thinking outside of the box and coming up with great ingenious ideas to differentiate themselves from the pack!

Pros

company leadership wants to succeed, is willing to take some risks

Cons

politically charged environment, can be cutthroat. Too much time spent on unproductive activity

Advice to Senior Management

push decision making down

Pros

The salaries and overall benefit packages at AOL are pretty good and seem to be getting better for new hires.

Cons

Still in total chaos. Despite the complete turnover in executive management, we are now learning it's just a new flavor of crp. Left hand doesn't know (or care) what the right hand is doing. Very policitical - everyone is in survival mode.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire a strong COO WITH experience at a premium media company - not a smart, but underqualified, friend of a friend from Google. Do a full review of the organization and then give the COO significant power to make necessary changes.

Pros

Used to be: exciting / challenging / vigorous

Cons

Now AOL: behind the market / tossing away talent and business to chase an idea from a 'business school idea'

Advice to Senior Management

Stop screwing the talent, going cheap, and sending all the jobs over to Bangalore

Pros

Incredible work life balance. Management trusts employees to work from home and remain committed to the project's deadline. Amazing benefits. Due to the size of the company there are many options when it comes to health and medical. Additionally, there's an abundance of programs to support parents, minorities, gay employees. It's very family friendly and the event staff does an amazing job creating a fun environment.

Cons

You will be well compensated but promotions are hard to come by, especially now. Employees in Dulles will find they're a bit isolated and sometimes unappreciated as initiatives, major events and executive presence lies in the NY office.

Advice to Senior Management

I think they've done a great job and attempt to over-communicate via email and our intranet. Perform audits of your employees and go a level deeper when inviting ideas and seeking talent to promote. Some managers don't do a good job of sharing the wealth when it comes to team credit.

Pros

Lots of opportunities for your voice to be heard and for you ideas to be pursued.
People are generally smart and friendly.

Cons

Too many people making decisions and not enough people doing the work.

Advice to Senior Management

Organize channels so the leader of a vertical actually has experience in it. Organize channels so similar ones are group together, for a reason.

Pros

Diverse culture and competent people. Much support for flexible and family time.
Salary + bonus are compatable to the industry standard.

Cons

Layoffs Layoffs Layoffs
Instability Instability Instability
Seems that AOL is not valuing Project Managers any longer. In this last round of layoffs they drastically reduced the Project Manager staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on bringing in and/or allowing new ideas. Also perform systematic reviews of current processes. Something can always be done better and most often an outside viewer can spot this and offer ideas very effectively

Pros

I thought i was paid well and most of the time the workplace was pleasant and challenging. If you seek it, you can get to work on ideas and projects.

Cons

too many people look out for themselves and climb over others to get ahead, back-stabing and stealing ideas along the way

Advice to Senior Management

respect your employees more