CNET Networks Reviews

Pros

The insurance was quite good (Blue Cross), with vision coverage included. Employees also got a week off over the holidays regardless of vacation hour status.

Cons

Definite split between the way men and women were treated in the Louisville, Ky. office. Men (and the occasional female "guy") got promotions constantly, but women who had been there years constantly were overlooked. If there was a private office, it belonged to a male.

Advice to Senior Management

I was made redundant right before the CBS takeover. The management at the time was truly incompetent and ran CNET into the ground, treating employees like liabilities while telling us that we were assets. I can't speak for the current regime but many of the offenders are still there.

Pros

The benefits are not bad, but now since CNET has been aquired by CBS, I'm not sure how things will roll out. The company culture is pretty laid back and work/life balance is encouraged for the most part.

Cons

Management can be incompetent but I guess it really depends on your manager. Although there are a lot of bright and smart people, you will come to realized there are also a lot who don't know how to do their jobs and it can get really frustrating working with them.

Moving up the ladder is not as easy as they make it sound when you are first hired. They make you think that you can get promoted at 9 months but that's really rare. Instead of "getting promoted" you have to wait until there is a job opening (and there aren't many) before you can apply and "get a promotion"

Advice to Senior Management

You need to make sure managers are competent and know how to do the jobs of the people they manage. There are a lot of managers who don't know a thing, and it really surprises me that they are in their position. Senior management needs to evaluate and bring in smarter people. I think the problem is they don't know how to successfully recruit good people. Most people get jobs at CNET because they know someone from the company. While it is great to hire referrals, CNET really needs to evaluate the candidates ability and even test their ability, this is especially for managers.

Pros

It's comfortable. It's a nice building with nice amenities. The benefits are solid, and the organization is fairly flexible to individual needs. Co-workers are smart and friendly. The sites have huge audiences, which makes for interesting problems, and the assurance that your code will get a lot of use. On the checklist of job features, CNET has most of them covered, but...

Cons

... the work might not be the most stimulating. There's a sense of complacency, and a lack of drive to develop innovative features in the field. Or, if there is a new feature, it will rarely get the support it needs to get it off the ground.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop trying to copy what is currently 'hot,' and set aside time to create something new. The employees are good and capable, trust them.

Pros

In general the organization is very flat and in the area that I worked most employees have the opportunity make an impact on the performance of the company. Many but not all the managers in the corporate infrastructure area are knowledgeable and caring and interested in the professional development of their reports. Teamwork is encouraged and inter-team communications are good making it very easy for new employees to meld into the organization or more senior employees to move to new opportunities. For the most part people like working there and feel fully engaged by their duties. I found very little micro-managing and as long as an employee showed initiative and met their goals they could do well. The company also strives for a good life-work balance encouraging employees to use their generous vacation time.

Cons

Over time the culture has changed from that of an Internet start-up to a more conservative, slower moving environment; much more fear of taking risks than a few years ago. The flat organizational structure also limits the opportunity for advancement unless you can be promoted in place (i.e., System Engineer to Sr. System Engineer). Most of the original management has left and the newer management--many from outside CNET--don't seem to have the creativity or drive that was once there. Over the past few years much of the organizational structure has been changed creating duplication of effort and mismatched technical groupings. Unfortunately, the stock option backdating issue caused a significant management change just when the company was recovering from the dot-com implosion and CNET never recovered. Hopefully the acquisition by CBS will allow them to get back to focusing on the product and moving forward.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open to and reward creativity.
Look carefully at where money is and is not being spent (unless CBS has very deep pockets).
The merger will be very scary for employees (i.e., will they still have jobs?) so try to retain the strong backbone of the company.

Pros

High performance atmosphere that is focused on producing world class Web sites

Cons

Elitist executive management is not always in touch with the realities of the business

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to basics of what made CNET great when it first launched

Pros

The benefits are great. It is a fun place to work and employees enjoy socializing while still focusing on their work. The management is very open to the rest of the company and CNET seems willing to listen to what their employees have to say. The work environment is one that encourages productivity but also discourages stress.

Cons

There are few opportunities for career advancement at CNET. Organization is terrible and it is very hard for people to communicate with each other. As a result, a lot of time is wasted on needless errors and conflicts arising from the lack of communication between different parts of the company.

Advice to Senior Management

The upper management needs to stop living in the shadow of the 20th century and embrace the changes associated with the 21st.

Pros

The benefits are very good compared to other companies I've worked with.

Cons

Communication between departments leaves something to be desired.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

The People! The average CNET employee is an intelligent and passionate person. Almost all of the people that I have worked with at CNET are not only experts in their field but they really care about what they are doing and it shows.

Cons

There is no work and life balance at all. No matter what season it is, there always seems to be an urgent project that requires you to work at least 60 plus hours per week. A lot of this has to do with the fact that there aren't enough engineers to support all of the ideas of the product managers.

Advice to Senior Management

1. The current senior management team is out of touch with the industry. Hopefully CBS will fix that.
2. There are too many idea people and not enough people doing the actual work. Again, hopefully CBS will fix this too.

Pros

It is the greatest mix of industry experts and forward-thinking innovators in online media period. The people are all very laid-back and friendly, but still carry a level of professionalism and adherence to all compliance mandates -- something truly truly rare in this online media space.

Cons

Though a great mix of experts and forward-thinkers, it is also a mix of innovators on the internet within a big company atmosphere that isn't as nimble and agile as it should be.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to all levels of employees because some of the younger new hires coming in have grown up with the internet, and never had to merely adjust to changing times.

Pros

comfortable pace, not too stressful. Good to have a kid.

Cons

stupid requests all the time. HR should hire people that get it.

Advice to Senior Management

Make more money like google