Guidance Software Reviews

I worked at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – a. Extremely knowledgeable, diverse, nice people.
b. Pleasant Pasadena location.
c. The company owns the Forensic Software market.
d. Some managers are awesome, among the best in the industry. (I was one of the lucky ones that had a good manager).
e. Very productive working environment: very few meetings, fantastic coding style, deep code reviews.
f. Cinema, barbeque from time to time.
g. I'm an industry veteran and Guidance was the place where I've learned the most.

Cons – a. Promotions to leadership/management positions are rare, when they happen it is in a opaque way.
b. Some managers are way below average.
c. People get fired constantly for "butting heads with the wrong person".
d. Real estate near Pasadena is expensive (not that Guidance can do anything about it).

Advice to Senior Management – Train your middle managers, so they learn to deal with people. Create your own management talent pool, don't go always after people from outside for leadership positions. Guidance has a fantastic workforce, treat them with respect. Disrespectful managers should be provided proper guidance (no pun intended). Allow for easier lateral movement in the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Guidance Software

Pros – They Pay Above Market, That's It.

Cons – No one is happy here. The environment is tragic, toxic, and contagious. AVOID this company like the plague.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – Top of class forensic software so you stay on top of the current technology.

Cons – High turn over. Little training on the products and high expectation to be an "expert".

Advice to Senior Management – Let the consultants install the software for testing on their laptops. How can anyone learn a tool they can't even use according to policy. Have actual technical directors instead of sales people running technical consultants.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – Some of the people are worth getting to know.

Cons – Management only promotes friends, not those that can do the work. Growth opportunities do not exist even though management says they want to help, they hold people back.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop bringing in friends and promoting those that do not know anything. Stop holding people back because once they are gone, they are gone

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – Reasonable comp; benefits are fair, not great.

Cons – Company culture is toxic to say the least; poor executive leadership in virtually every area.

Advice to Senior Management – I was in a fairly senior leadership role and saw a lot of odd behavior for an enterprise software company. Sales, Marketing, Services all seemed to not know what the other orgs were doing nor care; each area of the organizations is managed as a fiefdom and Victor (CEO) let's it happen and or claims to be unaware of the dysfunction. Amazing he is still collecting his high comp given the direction of the company. CFO is strong but has some weak people underneath that enable bad behavior. For a publicly traded company, it was a bit frightening to see the lack of controls in some areas of the business. The Services organization is poorly managed from the top down; very top heavy and ruled with an iron fist. Tremendous level of attrition at the company so I would think twice before joining. Overall, not a positive experience.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – SF office has a great location.

Cons – Management doesn't recognize employees' hard work. The company culture is non-existant, and nobody believes in the product. I spent too many days working late into the night, and never felt like my work was appreciated. There's a real lack of training and professional development.

Advice to Senior Management – i can't think of anything that would help management, or they would take seriously.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Guidance Software full-time for more than a year

Pros – Smart developer and friendly enviroment.
Good benifits
Good team building events

Cons – Lack to overall team sprit between departments, too many people like to wash their hands of the problem when it comes to work inter-deparement
Not much freedom to innovate
CTO is very smart but does not understand UI

Advice to Senior Management – Learn how to manage people
Figure out why you have such a high turnover in key positions
Hire UX people

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Guidance Software

Pros – Good location and some very

Cons – Overall culture, lack of communication and respect, severe disapproval of work/life balance

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Guidance Software

Pros – Good location that is easy to access.

Cons – Interviewed and hired for one job, but was told to do another. Hired as a consultant, but expected to stay at location whether there was work or not. There tended to be groups of friends that advance each other. Clients were taken from people to lure new employees, which effected current employees base salary.

Advice to Senior Management – Company is not run professionally. It is time to seriously address this issue.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Guidance Software

Pros – The best reasons to work @ Guidance are opportunity in a field that is unsaturated, the comp plan is aggressive and the solutions are not commoditized. With corporation litigation not slowing down and security only getting tighter, our platform is solid and supports some of the largest global companies out there. Our reputation is a strong sign of our success over the past 15 years...

Cons – The only downside of this company is the FSA total is only $3000 in comparism to other company;s where it is @ least $6000.

Advice to Senior Management – The presidents club trips are extremely motivating! Would love to see quarterly incentives as well...

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend