Check Point Software Reviews

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – Learn many aspects of industry-leading firewalls very quickly
Great benefits
Free lunch
Great stock purchase program
Teamwork is highly encouraged

Cons – The pay is comparatively awful
Management can play favorites, although I hear that has changed now
Some degree of micro-management from Israel

Advice to Senior Management – Pay your employees what they are worth, and they will stick around longer. Check Point is a great place to work. If you took a poll of why technical advisers left, the number 1 reason would be because they were offered more elsewhere.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Check Point Software

Pros – Great opportunities to learn IT Security inside and out if you stay for 2+ years
An environment with relaxed dress code and a few perks like paid for lunch up to 8 dollars from a choice of 4-5 restaurants every day.

Cons – Poor entry level salary
understaffed in every department makes for a very heavy workload
Managers for the Technical support department are not technical whatsoever which makes them incompetent at properly delegating responsibilities.
Their decisions are strictly on meaningless metrics and parameters. For example, how many tickets have been closed per worker on average... How often tickets are closed, length of time tickets have been open.
Extremely stressful demands from technical customers and non-technical managers.
This company is all about trial by fire. The strong survive. Training is very poor and the tools provided are minimal. It's very much a cooperative effort with colleagues and a lot of patience that gets you through the endless and demanding phone calls which are very technical and complicated in nature.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire technical managers that can properly discern and delegate responsibilities to maximize efficiency.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – Awesome way to start learning about security with incredible benefits package.
At least one trip to israel to see the head office, great experience all around.
The diamond team specifically teaches you multiple facets of business and handling the security needs of some of the largest companies in the world.

Cons – The support team is essentially the lowest man on the totem pole as far as checkpoint is concerned they continually throw everything down on the support team and very little consideration from upper management is given in regards to feedback, direction, or compensation.

Advice to Senior Management – Invest more in your support network, these are thr guys that fix contact busting problems and get next to zero recognition for what they do. Then most of the best achievers walk out because other companies will pay over 50% more and actually care about their support team.

I have been working at Check Point Software

Pros – Stability, product line, industry leading security solutions

Cons – Low compensation, inability to influence Israel.

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – This company is in a good sector. You will be positioned well once you leave Check Point. The CEO is forward thinking and you will learn a lot.

Cons – Very political. There can be issues between overseas management and management that resides in the United States. Efforts to look good to remote managment seems to negatively impact behaviors between the different departments.

Advice to Senior Management – Check in more frequently with United States employees to see if systems that are put in place are working. Have anonymous feedback systems in place so that people can tell you how things are REALLY going.

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – Like the government: steady, safe, reliable employment.
Free Lunch
Weekends are truly off--and Fridays are quiet due to Israel being out. you do always pay for it by feeling behind on Monday. I think the Israelis think we don't actually work 5 whole days.
you can get paid fairly--but you must negotiate heavily for it. I had to walk away from the job offer 3 times before getting what I wanted.
I had an incredible manager there, but that person is now gone. If you are shielded from all the difficulties with Israel it can be a safe steady mostly 9-5 job.

Cons – This is not a marketing driven company by any stretch. Every quarter you will spend half your time justifying your entire existence to Gil personally, who won't bother to actually hear your entire power point presentation through before cutting you off at the middle of slide 1 to harangue you about his theories of marketing. Since you can't spend more than $25k on ANY ONE PO, you are essentially justifying every spend you make to every single banner ad purchase. It's also tremendously convoluted, the purchasing organization is set up like the Soviet government, with instructions to obfuscate and reject purchase orders because they don't like the way the justification is worded. I have an MBA from a top program and more than a decade of experience in my field, and justifying my marketing strategy to a low level clerk (who would then explain it to Gil's cousin, who would then explain it to him and screw it up in the process causing it to be rejected), just grew too exhausting to put up with.

Advice to Senior Management – Gil, Israelis may make the world's best consumer security products, but you don't know jack about marketing, especially in the consumer space. You need to learn to manage risk and to listen to the people you hire. You support a culture of incivility that ensures you will only have the weakest teams long term who lack motivation to truly excel. Maybe this works in Israel but it doesn't work in Silicon Valley. Maybe what you do in marketing works in the enterprise space but in consumer you have much to learn...well there's a reason Symantec and AVG ate your lunch, as well as all your other meals in this area.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – free lunch, good stable company.

Cons – low compensation, management inexperience and don't care what you think. Will only used you and overworked you. you will be scorned at and be humiliated in front of ppl if you don't listen or make mistake. No structure whats so ever. Extreme micromanage. Do not work here!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Should have better hierarchy. and let employee do their work and learn to treat employees with some respect and dignity, and not used them for only getting sales etc.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – The senior management is very much involved in day-2-day running of the company. Decisions abt product strategy are made and implemented quickly.

Cons – Senior management lack the trust in employees' words. Decisions are enforced heavy handedly, with sometimes no explanation.

I worked at Check Point Software

Pros – There were interesting challenges and good people in the group.

Cons – Extreme micromanagement, ignorance of the software development process, no willingness to listen, didn't learn from their mistakes, did not value US employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't go international. You don't understand the world outside Israel.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Check Point Software

Pros – Leading company in security. Great people.

Cons – Requires results and effectiveness from everyone.

Advice to Senior Management – --

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend