Autonomy Reviews in Calgary, AB Area

Pros

Plenty of opportunities to work on exciting new technologies, and there are still some very talented folks there

Cons

Complete disconnect from HQ in UK, and overall somber mood in the office.

Advice to Senior Management

I could write a book on it, but nobody would read it.

Pros

Money was good to start, there were free lunches on Fridays, and you got 5 weeks vacation.

Cons

First, while you got 5 weeks vacation, you needed those 5 weeks to de-stress. When supporting a software product that you have 0 knowledge of going into the job, you are given little training, no documentation, and little helpful assistance from senior staff because they weren't trained either.

Advice to Senior Management

When you mention that you have never laid off an employee in your history, make sure you haven't recently fired an entire office.

Pros

-You'll have the chance to work with unique technology, Enterprise Search, E-Discovery, Call Centre Management Software, E-Mail Archiving and Business Process Automation.
-Software supported on several platforms, opportunity to learn new skills.
-There are great people at Autonomy Calgary (ex Verity)

Cons

-There is no PMO or SDLC in place, no agile or waterfall, software is developed and released with poor planning. The customer base is unhappy with the product quality and support, customers have learned that the only way to get a bug fixed is to go legal.
-There are banned words at Autonomy, for example; if you tell a customer you have found a bug in the software, you'll be fired. You'll be reminded via email not to say or write the banned words or else. This practice creates paranoia and high levels of stress.
-Micro-management defines Autonomy. Managers at Calgary office have no voice, everything is done according to the directives of a few people in the UK, they decide hiring, terminations and everything else, Calgary managers execute orders no questions asked.
-You'll be promised bonuses, salary increases and much more but in reality you won't get anything and forget about career growth.
-Work life balance doesn't exists. It is extreme really, they will check the ID card readers to check the time you got in and the time you go home and monitor the time you take for lunch. I have seen nasty emails sent to employees for leaving 10 minutes before close of business. My manager did a good job at fighting this culture but gave up, he left the company.
-The workload for each tech is so high it is ridiculous.
-Don't expect a performance review or manager feedback on goals and achievements.
-Promotions are given to managers friends and even relatives. nepotism?
-Lastly, do not bother applying for a job if your GPA is less than 3.5

Advice to Senior Management

You are not running a startup, it is time to change your management practices and stop the micro managing style.
The best asset in Autonomy is the people, you need to take care of your staff, don't just promise, walk the talk and reward (at least say thanks once in a while) your employees.

Pros

- 5 weeks paid vacation time per year from the beginning
- Excellent extended health and dental coverage
- Currently, fun people to work with at (in the local office)
- Good potential for academic or professional upgrading in your field ($3000/year per employee for courses, workshops, conferences, etc)
- Free lunch on Fridays
- There are some good managers in the local office who will look out for you and vouch for you

Cons

- No raises: Many colleagues I know (including me) have never had a raise. Not even a standard of living raise.
- No transparency from head office: even the managers did not know about the last few rounds of layoffs. Known issues and limitations are not allowed in official documentation.
- Lack of integrity from upper management: After layoffs, we were told that the company has never had a single "economic layoff", and implied that the 10% of the office (and more from other offices) were fired due to performance issues
- Micromanagement from upper management: every travel request, request to hire (even for interns), request for hardware/software, etc, must be approved by a list of signatures, some including the CEO's.
- No process: Org charts don't exist here and are in fact frowned upon. No official performance reviews here. This is beyond Agile.
- No project management: as far as I can tell, our products are haphazardly developed based on customer reaction/requests. We have numerous products that have very similar functionalities.
- Middle management is powerless: All requests for equipment, raises, bonuses, hires, etc are must be sent to head office. Very little power is given to non-HQ managers as far as I can tell.
- Extreme frugality: Company has reported 90% profits for a number of years now. See first point. This tends to make people bitter. Everyone flies economy, but the execs fly in a private jet.

Advice to Senior Management

There's no excuse not to reward employees for their hard work when the company is doing well.

Pros

- Excellent amount of time off per year
- Work life balance (for the most part)
- Compensation was decent
- Good working environment with games room and free lunches on Fridays

Cons

- Little room for advancement
- Lack of annual reviews and therefore no pay raise structure
- Very little praise or criticism from management
- Very little interest in helping employees reach career goals

Advice to Senior Management

Provide better feedback and communication to employees.

Pros

Autnomy's Calgary office is very well run and a pretty fun place to work. The management in this office is very good about giving praise and letting you know that you have done a good job.
Autonomy's products interface with so many other vendors that it is possible to get exposed to a wide array of technologies (whether through supporting or developing the product). In addition to this, Autonomy has some really cool products(from voice and video search to liquid office) so there are some really fun things to play with. If you like to be on the cutting edge then Autonomy is a great place to be.

Autonomy keeps buying other companies so over the past while there have been lots of chances for transfers and advancement in positions that might be a better fit for you.

Cons

Autonomy's senior management doesn't seem to know that there are many unhappy employees in the company. While the regional management is doing an excellent job, the senior managers don't seem to care, or be aware of what it takes to keep the employees happy.

Autonomy claims that it will only hire the best. However, excellent people leave the company on a regular basis because they are displeased by the lack of support and understanding from Autonomy's head office.

The senior management seem very quick to try to solve "problems" by throwing the easiest solution at the problem. However, this causes issues in the future because often the quickest solution isn't the best.

Autonomy has very VERY poor communication with its lowest level of employees. Very little information is spread through methods other than "the grapevine" and Autonomy never seems to reveal its mission to its employee base. I would guess that most employees have no idea what the company's goals are.

Autonomy has no long term benifits package. This means that if you plan on working with Autonomy for a long time you better make sure you have your own retirement savings.

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest that senior management begin looking at ways of increasing employee morale. As far as I can tell, there are many unhappy people. I suggest that senior management hire a "employee survey" company to try and figure out what their employees want. Autonomy doesn't seem to realize that monetary rewards are very little incentive for an employee to stay with a company.

In additon to this, Autonomy needs to firmly establish a set of goals or a mission statement for the company. Also, communication needs to be done through official channels and on a regular basis. I suggest that Autonomy consider regular company wide meetings to ensure that all employees are "on the same page". Ideally, these meeting would involve a video conference service so that senior management can be seen and heard through the world. In fact, each meeting should feature an divison of the company (Virage, Zantaz, Cardiff, etc). This would allow everyone to see what is being worked on in the various divisions.

Hopefully the senior management can understand, happy employees are some of the best sales people available. If you are excited about going to work, you will tell everyone about it.