Pros

Citrix has a very good overall vision and an amazing marketing approach. This and their flagship product is what has kept them profitable. They are able to understand the market, the hot products/messages to deliver even before most companies. Citrix used to be a fun place to work but not any more.

Cons

There is a huge gap between the Executive Leadership Team and the management teams below them. This includes direction, communication, etc. Citrix used to be a small company but is not able to grow and scale to a corporate environment. They are still stuck in the startup mentality but are a software/hardware company that employs over 4000 people. They are not able to understand what it really takes to get to the next level and they do not invest in the acquistions they have made. Good examples are the acquistions of XenSource and Orbital Data (WANScaler). The same engineering team is expected to do more with less. Engineering best practices are still not in place as every engineering team still does their own thing. Only thing that matters any more is the stock price and shareholder perception. Everything seems to be done with a very short sighted approach without seeing the consequences in the long term.

Citrix is very much a boys club, if you're not in, you will go nowhere.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior Management is very sheltered from what is going on. The communication from the ELT never makes it to the file and rank.

The last layoff was handled very badly, and Sr. Mgt had code named it "Project Respect". There wasn't anything respectful about how it was handled.