Denali Software Reviews

Pros

Good pay, good people. The work is also decent - a lot of work nearing deadlines but quite decent workload otherwise (this is for the s/w team - not h/w)

Cons

There tends to be a routineness in the job sometimes, which could be problematic. Also a niche area to work on means domain knowledge is deep rather than broad.

Advice to Senior Management

Great job on growing and selling the company!

Pros

The engineering team is truely organized and works very efficient and effective. You will work with many very smart and knowledgeable engineers.

Cons

In general, EDA is very very competitive industry. Many smart guys work on very challenging work but not many exciting product as most innovative .com products.

Pros

+Individual Prowess is valued.
+Flex hours/Telecommute
+Engineering Manager usually off your back once you prove yourself
+After 2008, started to give decent bonuses

Cons

Individual Prowess is valued. This is a pro and a con, as teamwork falls by the wayside, and cohesion never gets built up. Also, the engineering team seems farcically friendly. i.e. on the surface, smiles, but there are no solid connections, no real friendships. I'd watch my back. This might be due to this way of being in the workplace promoted by the two engineering directors in the office which got filtered down to the rest of the team. There is an underlying fear that prevents people from stepping up and being honest.
Also, the HR was not the best. He had to be pushed to do even the minutest of tasks, and even then took months to accomplish small things. Even employee benefits the employee had to keep a watch out in the industry for changes and report to the HR for the HR to get in on the act. We did not feel cared for. Also, this was the only company I have seen where the HR roams around making sure that people were working!
Finally, there was no concept of grooming leaders. All engineers were seen in a way as contractors, to get the job done. In a way this also resulted in a political environment, and those can play the game, get ahead.

Advice to Senior Management

Groom people for tomorrow. Have career plans in place. Its not a startup anymore!

Pros

good salary, flex hours, part-time telecommuting ok, good parties, primarily nice people, (deservedly) good reputation in industry where their core business (IP) is concerned, very smart president.

Cons

Abysmal project management in area outside of the core IP business:
   - Huge lack of technical expertise on the part of management.
  - Huge lack of basic project management skills
  - very political environment
  - lack of schedules

All in all, very difficult and frustrating in non-core business side of the company.

Advice to Senior Management

No point, they trust who they trust no matter what.

Pros

They throw some of the best parties in the EDA industry. Good work environment. Great potential for growth.

Cons

Long commute if you're not in the South Bay. More value is placed on face time than performance. Obscure base product lack glamor.

Advice to Senior Management

There's a difference between performing well and working hard. Sometimes it's better to award the performers over the hard workers.