Data Domain Reviews

Pros

Great team to work with very supportive.
Team members are always willing to help.
I enjoyed my time there.

Cons

Vice President of Federal needs to be replaced to ensure future success.
Purchase by EMC changed the atmosphere within Data Domain.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the focus on Data Domain as it was before the EMC acquisition.

Pros

They actually compensated me very well, salary-wise. The product was actually fairly cool, fun to work with, and relatively easy to implement. Generally speaking, it just WORKED.

Cons

I can't even describe the attitude of the management team. Never have I worked with a more unsupportive, self-serving group of people. I'm sure that they eat their own young. I'm really not surprised that EMC bought them - it's a perfect corporate culture match made in the fires of hell.

Advice to Senior Management

Here's a start: Stop hiring Satan's minions and promoting them into management positions. Other than that, keep up the good work!

Pros

Great product to support, it worked as designed. In the early days management listened to the customer and it was easy to get product marketing's time with a customer.

Cons

Most of the startup culture died when EMC took over this company. IT got political really quick.

Before even the EMC buy out, management would hire their buddies from previous companies even if they were idiots.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire from within and open up the interview process. You can't hire a technical position and the interview is composed of only management.

Pros

Data Domain is a very fast growing company that is heading to the right direction.

Cons

The growth rate for Data Domain is very slow. There is no sense of team.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to take the time to develop their employees and make them feel apart of the company.

Pros

Great technology, very happy customer base.

Cons

Our technology rocks and has simplified dedupe target based systems. The bad part is you have to work with customers with all their crappy backup software so it backups properly to Data Domain.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the Data Domain culture alive within EMC. This is a long shot wish, but hopefully will be accomplished.

Pros

Data Domain has done a phenomenal job of staying ahead of the competition in the deduplication space. After outpacing its early competitors it has grown and maintained a majority of the deduplicaiton storage market.

Cons

Management is arrogant and self-focused. The CEO will talk about having respect for employees but has built an organization that will rarely show it. You will be given an infinite workload and management will ignore your input for change.

Advice to Senior Management

Do a round of 360 degree reviews throughout the organization. Listen to the feedback you receive. You have a lot of employees who would leave in a nanosecond if they could find a similar job in this economy. Far too many of your current and former employees are talking about what an abysmal place Data Domain is to work. A former coworker refers to the company as "a sweat shop."

Pros

They have a good product in the space they're in, and they're one of the few companies still hiring in the valley. There are many bright people employed in engineering who can continue to differentiate this product among others in their field. Storage is a difficult space for a new company to enter and they've managed to do this when few other companies can. People perceive they'll make money at this company which isn't something that has been seen for many years.

HR is run by many really good people who attempt to infuse their values throughout the company. That can't be said for many companies in the valley.

Cons

The company is run by a small group of insiders who don't understand business beyond thier areas of expertise. There is limited cross-company communicaiton. Management tends to hire above those who are already in place, but then ignores their input. It seems vitually impossible to penetrate into the founder's circle of influence. The company is run like a very small start-up which of course is no longer true. They created an enrivonment which speaks of work-life balance, but that is not the life of most people there. Most folks work killer hours and would leave if they could find a job. The bad economy keeps people entrenched at Data Domain.

Advice to Senior Management

Begin to communicate to your VPs and Directors who you've brought in as "experts".

Pros

Working for the Market Leader

Cons

Working for a smaller company means you have to do a lot for yourself until the company starts to really grow.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing to provide mind share.

We need to start to advertise more.

Pros

The work is challenging and interesting. The people are smart and helpful. Work arrangements are flexible but that is probably no different than at other similar sized companies in the area.

Cons

It is still a relatively young company. The work/life balance and benefits aren't as refined as at other places in silicon valley. The more children you have, the younger they are, the more acute this realization.

Advice to Senior Management

Be completely forthcoming about any and all decisions that affect employee's life at work. I think this area could use some improvement. Don't scrimp on minor perks. They cost relatively little but help reduce distractions and generally keep employees happy.

Pros

Cool technology, great people, great market potential

Cons

None that I can think of

Advice to Senior Management

Keep executing!