Brocade Communications Reviews

Pros

Brocade has a number of good working people
Good teamwork and people are very co operative.
Freedom at what u r doing

Cons

incompetent salary base. Pays very less salary compared to other similar companies.
no growth professionally
too much work
no salary hikes

Advice to Senior Management

Raise salary, hire more people and have a clear vision.
do not over burn employees. It should be understood that people need to get some personal time

Pros

Innovative focus. Focused on excellence. Fighting spirit.

Cons

Unrealistic expectations for what it takes to achieve excellence.

Advice to Senior Management

The company needs to pick where it is capable (competent, financial, competitive) of being excellent. There is not enough room to pursue mediocrity.

Pros

Great technology
"A" players to work with/for
Good pay
Work/lie balance is good

Cons

Quotas can be aggressive
Lots of comp/territory changes

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure you help your employees grow and foster their careers.

Pros

The timings are very flexible and people are very friendly to work with. Work is good and the amount of time that is given is considerate.

Cons

Poor middle level management which does not quite map the progress of the project to the success of the product. They chip and change things as and when they like. Many projects get sidelined due to which there is heartburn for employees. Considering how big a company it has become there is absolutely no software process model in place and everything takes place haphazardly.

Advice to Senior Management

Bring some proper process into the system. The overall direction is fine but implementation of the same is largely disorganized.

Pros

1. opportunity to learn new technologies
2. sense of ownership for the technology
3. easy to get PTO approved
4.

Cons

1. No salary raise
2. Salary is not competitive with market for the similar positions
3. Management ignores issues and slow to adapt

Advice to Senior Management

1. If a process is not working, admit it and correct it and move on ... no one will think less of you for admitting something not working as planned.

Pros

I have worked for a couple fortune 100 companies, and in my experience Brocade has surpassed my expectations for the enjoyment of my work and experience within corporate America. Brocade makes work flexible for individuals and offers much freedom when it comes to telecommuting. The salaries are some of the highest paid in the industry and the semi-annual bonus' (although dependent on companies performance) are a great addition. Brocade also offers free VTA bus pass and nice gym within headquarters. Another plus is that a restaurant/hotel just opened directly next to HQ where it is common you will find coworkers sharing happy hour after work and relaxing in the lawn chairs by the pool.
I would say the company culture is pretty outgoing and welcoming from the start. Even though it's a fairly large company, it doesn't feel as big by the compradore that exists within the company.

Cons

If there was a company shuttle that possibly went to East Bay, SF, and maybe even South San Jose to help the commute for those employees that are coming a far distance to the North San Jose headquarters.
Brocade is the underdog in the network industry, and there has been a lot of rumors/ speculation of being acquired by another company.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow the innovation and flexibility that is encouraged within the company to be less of a minutia to get your ideas noticed. Further persist on greater streams of communication from employees to upper management with ideas or suggestions.

Pros

new campus, that's about it.

Cons

decreased PTO policy, then re-instituted company shutdown to basically take back all the PTO; good move for the P&L and Balance Sheet, no so great for employees
THIRD YEAR in row there wont be any raises
used to have high bonuses, but not anymore; they are also cutting down on the percentage. Pay is now below average
management is arrogant, incompetent, and has a sense of entitlement

Advice to Senior Management

pick a vision and stick to it, don't go out saying it's all good when it's not.

Pros

New campus
Many position available in different teams

Cons

Bad management
No salary increase
Stressful working environment

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the employee

Pros

Amazing individual contributors. Some of the best and brightest I have had the pleasure to work with.

Great innovative products that challenge and are fun to work on and with.

Amazing network of company partners to help get your products out.

Cons

This is hard. I love Brocade. It has been my home for MANY years. However there are some new issues, in the last 12 months that are becoming an issue.

1.) With the exception of some individual promotions, raises have not been given in 2yrs or more for MANY people.

2.) In Dec, for the first time in the many many years I have been here, the 1/2 yr bonus was not paid. A Holiday bonus was given to soften the blow, however it was maybe 20% of what was normally received.

Now, these two items would have been acceptable. We had a bad quarter, and they were very generous during years that many of my friends received no bonuses. Most were ok with this, IF not for two items.

1.) There was a filing made in December showing that the Exec team all received SIGNIFICANT raises.

2.) There was in the same filing a cash bonus set up for the same team that would further increase the executive compensation.

If we sacrifice, they must sacrifice. Otherwise we leave.

June will be very telling to the future as to which of us will be staying at Brocade.

Advice to Senior Management

If you have to hide something, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Treat us with respect, and we will continue to build the products that make you wealthy. Do again what you did in Dec, and you will see brain drain that you could not imagine.

Pros

1. well planned
2. Process oriented
3. Great infrastructure
4. Great co-curricular support like gym

Cons

1. Too many people
2. Senior engineers -many in numbers with non-challenging jobs
3. mgr-to engi ratio too big- 1 mgr with 15 engineers -so stressed out
4. non-challenging job
5.

Advice to Senior Management

move from community service to professional service. No forward planning. new product quality not matching brocade standards. Bonus should be paid always