Back to Citrix Systems Reviews
Citrix Systems – “There's a lot of companies you should consider before Citrix Systems.”
6 of 6 people found this helpfulMar 14, 2009
2009-03-14 12:38 PDT
Details
Pros
Citrix Systems is pretty much a 9-5, though if you are on a sales team your hours may be more aggressive. Citrix easily has the best PTO policy of any company I have ever worked for: 20 days a year base, 30 days a year for employees who have a 5+ year tenure. In California, it is illegal to wipe away unused PTO, so employees can accrue almost two months of time off. Great vision plan, above average 401k matching, charitable contribution matching and stock options for everyone. Great travel reimbursement policy. If you are on the road a lot, Citrix will take care of you, unlike other companies that will try to squeeze every penny out of their road warriors.
Cons
The technology is not that interesting. Do you want to work on keeping terrible products on life support for a few years longer because they do not run on systems more advanced than Windows 3.1? At least Citrix eats their own dogfood. The internal support ticketing system was created in the early 90s and is absolutely horrible to use.
When you look at reviews of companies like Google or Facebook on this site, every single review will lavish praise on the sheer talent and intelligence of coworkers as a top reason to work at that company. Those companies attract the best, brightest, most talented, passionate and motivated employees in Silicon Valley. There's a reason not a single review lists that as a reason to work at Citrix. Top tech companies get the best; Citrix gets the rest. Make sure to keep a long paper trail on every project so you can point the finger when someone drops the ball, because, believe me, someone will drop the ball. Someone always drops the ball. To make matters worse, the Ft. Lauderdale employees make the Santa Clara office employees look like a pack of Albert Einsteins. It takes several conference calls, many pages of documentation and a minimum of three GoToMeeting sessions to teach the folks in Florida how to do simple tasks. I've always suspected that Citrix is one of those companies that just tries to make do with what they have because their salaries are below market.
There are three types of employees at Citrix:
- The underperformers. This is the vast majority of employees. There are some folks who wouldn't survive at a real company but will be promoted again and again at Citrix. They have realized this and have realized that being a VP of Marketing at a bad company is still a VP of Marketing. If you are not that good at your job and want to be amongst peers, maybe Citrix is the place for you.
- The smart people. These people do not care about Citrix. Usually they come to Citrix as a result of a buyout or an introduction from another smart person that came as a result of a buyout. They see Citrix as a very undemanding way to pay the bills while working the minimum amount possible, spending free time researching and practicing for their side projects and startups that they leave to launch. Some end up leaving with groups of other smart Citrix employees to start companies. Not all teams may have this flexibility, as some teams employ the "manager looking over your shoulder while you work" philosophy. Your mileage may vary.
- People who no longer care about their careers and just stick around for the 2-9% annual raise, generous PTO. The job will rarely demand weekends or evenings, and the workload is far lower than other companies. Citrix is where you go when you want your career to die.
* There's one exception to all of the above statements: Citrix Online in Santa Barbara. Formerly ExpertCity, a WebEx competitor, Citrix bought them at a discount when Sun saw a chance to sell. They're just about the only tech company in Santa Barbara/Goleta that doesn't make weapons. They allow dogs at work, which is a delight if you like animals. If you are looking to work in Santa Barbara, Citrix Online is a pretty good place to work.
Advice to Senior Management
Start cleaning house and hire better people! I've got nothing against Mark Templeton. He's a really down to earth guy who genuinely cares about his employees. The problem is that Silicon Valley is not Florida. The work culture is different. I'm at odds with myself. On the one hand, Silicon Valley culture is what is needed to turn Citrix into a true technology powerhouse. On the other hand, the Florida culture allows employees to have true work/life balance that I have never seen in neither Silicon Valley startups nor Silicon Valley Fortune 500 powerhouses.
Helpful Review?
Yes |
No
Comments (3)
I have worked for, or consulted to, many companies in the last 25 years. I have seen very healthy and very toxic corporate cultures and lots in between. Citrix is as good as it gets. All things considered, Citrix is employee friendly, has solid products, reasonable management practices and loyal customers. There is no perfect place to work.
Inappropriate?
Jonhen, I don't disagree with anything you have said. I don't want it to seem like Santa Clara was filled with geniuses, because it wasn't. Maybe problems are just easier to solve when you can physically move somebody and drive, and that's simply warped my perception. I do hope that our dialogue exposes the more important underlying issue: problems with communication and company culture.
I would disagree with SarKen's statement that Citrix is as good as it gets, but he is right about Citrix being employee friendly, having solid products and reasonable management practices. It's my belief that if you are young, talented and ambitious, Citrix cannot and never will satisfy your need for challenge, prestige or wealth. There are much better companies with a lot more upside than Citrix, though the tradeoff is risk. I spent several years at Citrix. There were good times and lots of nice people, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I spent those years working on advancing my education or at a company that actually had a chance of going somewhere. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.
Inappropriate?
by jonhen:
And yes, it always took many GoToMeetings and phone calls to get anyone in Santa Clara to understand the simplest task(s). Reading through this review, however... perhaps what I always assumed was just sheer idiocy on the part of the employees on the other coast was really just a terrible company culture that indoctrinates "West Coast" vs. "East Coast" mentality.
I can say that, working in the Fort Lauderdale office, our basic mantra was to completely ignore anything and anyone in the Santa Clara office - because you could be certain that the project(s) would be doomed if you did. I heartily agree with this reviewer, however, about the need to keep a complete paper trail for any and all projects that you work on.