Cadence Design Reviews

Pros

Very high tech environment, visibility to the whole electronics design chain
Super smart people
Good salary & benefits
Traditionally good community involvement

Cons

Constant leadership changes
Lack of focus on fundamentals and execution
Poor process and tools to support software development
Too many management layers, too much politics
Lack of architecture focus; no strong CTO function or other way to integrate various products under a standard set of architectural standards (for UI, database, frameworks, coding standards, etc.)

Advice to Senior Management

* More accountability (for example if you want to solve the quality problem, identify someone on sr. leadership team to OWN it)
* Rationalize the R&D organizations, create a central operations group and central architecture/CTO function so we have some standards across the tools
* Culture initiative is good idea but - we need Cadence Central or some other social media to foster internal communication, and we need to start restoring funding to community giving programs to better engage employees
* Too much fear; we're not that big, we should be taking more risks, experimenting more. I think this culture needs to come from the top

Pros

- good career path,
- good exposure to the technology and training
- overall good people around
 great technology, but needs sales compensation

Cons

- not good compensation, should improve it.
 - increase bonus and stocks
- great technology, but needs sales compensation
- too much overlay of management

Advice to Senior Management

- should increase the compensation and over all growth path.
- - too much overlay of management
- start cutting down VPs

Pros

1. Leadership position in many segments of its market
2. For many people, ability to work from home

Cons

1. Company is too top-heavy: lots of directors and managers with no reports;
2. Since people are too dispersed -- many key people working out of their home with only an occasional cameo appearance in the office -- communications are a challenge.

Advice to Senior Management

Restructure the top-heavy character of the company.

Pros

Opportunity to control your own destiny
Tight Focus driven by very high pressure

Cons

9 - 12 month vision based
highly competitive environment; some have called it a shark tank - but it is the major league and success or failure is very clear to everyone

Advice to Senior Management

Too many layers of management with each layer grasping for control and exposure. The end result is a very unproductive environment which does not encourage any risk-taking.

Pros

The compensation for individual contributors is generous compared to other high tech companies. Employees are treated well and the benefits package is good. There is a free on-site fitness center offered to all employees.

Cons

Career advancement training opportunities for individual contributors is scarce. The company tends to be top-heavy with management. The executive staff is over-compensated based on company performance. There is a tendency to export US jobs overseas to help the bottom line.

Advice to Senior Management

Lose some chiefs and hire more indians (but not in India, China, or Russia).

Pros

Big company, employee-oriented, work-life balance, challenging projects for career. Emphasis on employee development and employee education. Great benefits and perks.

Cons

No career growth for an ambitious individual. The mid-level management team comprises of very long term employees who are planning to retire from their positions. As a result, the younger employees who work for them have no opportunities to move up the ladder.

Advice to Senior Management

Change and adaptability are very good for any company's culture. The younger work force should be encouraged to plan and implement their innovative ideas. "This has worked well in the past and we shouldn't change anything" attitude by upper management needs to change.

Pros

Among the best compensation in the technical software market. Some of the most intelligent, hard-working people you could ever work with.

Cons

A continuous lack of executive leadership since the mid 90's usually leads to a high volume of very talented people that leave "hating" the place. A "no rehire" policy that prohibits past employees from being rehired, even if they're qualified and they weren't fired for cause.

Advice to Senior Management

Limit the egos, get some outside help on working together effectively, make decisions & execute, lose the politics, become a meritocracy & fix the business model.

Pros

Only the greatest engineers and staff now remain after so many layoffs.
Great teamwork across the world. Everyone chips in as needed.
Loyal customers.

Cons

Top management has little understanding of business impact of its decisions. The board supported so many of the past big mistakes, and it should be replaced with new thinkers.
Random layoffs decided at BU levels or above only can scare staff ... and once possible those who can will leave for more rational work environments.
Managers and directors no longer determine the fate off their staff. HR or not-in-the-know management holds the axe.

Advice to Senior Management

New board! Give managers marching orders to follow, within which they can make the decisions. They and their team then will feel more ownership for what is next.

Pros

Flexible working time
Decent salary and benefit, but not much growth
Good trainings for fresh graduate
Management appreciates employee's contributions

Cons

Not a company for innovation. They did good job on code quality control, but not for a new product. The pace of a new product is different from a matured one in the development cycle. Customer's feedback took a long path from marketing and AEs to RDs. Marketing people don't know what customer really need. Senior managment made big mistake to erode both the company and the EDA industry.

Advice to Senior Management

As a leader in EDA industry, Cadence should focus on technology instead of finantial numbers. They can be more brave to invest on innovations and bring good surprises to the industry.

Pros

Like others have mentioned, Cadence pays well relatively speaking, and provides a very flexible work environment that support a good work/life balance. Normally, management promotes and supports work-at-home and home-office (mainly to save money).

Cons

But if you are to negotiate a job offer from Cadence, make sure to get as big a title, as much money and stock option as you possibly can. Because once you get there, those are likely what you’ll ever going to get. The company has no formal employee/career development program, employees rarely get training at all, promotions are rare and difficult, a few share of stock grant unless you are an executive.

Most employees are there for their own personal reasons - pay-work-live balance – until they get layoff. Only few are there for the big battle – against competition and shareholder value. In fact, most home-office employees, especially managers and director, work far less than 40 hours per week. It is an unspoken secret so the directors would protect his/her lackluster-know-nothing-do-nothing-boss-kissing-never-question-his-boss employees. So, Cadence can’t beat its competitors or offer leading-edge-solution to customers when its management does not collaborate with customers, industry-experts, fellow employees while hiding in their cottage home far far away from where the action is.

Advice to Senior Management

If Lip-Bu Tan really wants to save Cadence, it needs to get back to basic and operate like a startup. Forget home-offices and work-at-home (which startup allows that?), bring everyone back to the corporate office and let the employees work together as a team and toward common goals (no, no, sorry not work-live balance. That shouldn’t be # 1). Most importantly, a reward system (in bonus and stock option) that is worthwhile to work hard.