MathWorks Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

Very stable company. Very smart people. Lots of fun social opportunities. Great company culture. Extremely collaborative environment makes a great place to work if you are willing to allow others on your stuff. I can see myself retiring there.

Cons

Unclear promotion criteria something driven by political reasons and fear of change. The company is extremely collaborative, but in some cases fails to recognize special contributors. Many review processes makes hard to innovate, but quality is prime.

Pros

good benefits
healthy, growing company with a very good product
relaxed atmosphere

Cons

low salary
most promotions are from within

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in your new employees

Pros

The policies of the company are very employee friendly. Matlab is very versatile and attracts so many different customers anid one gets a lot of exposure.

Cons

I think it pays less than other companies and growth factor up in the ladder is little slow.

Advice to Senior Management

More importance should be given to some one with academics credentials than to someone with experience.

Pros

Good benefits, free breakfast, company outing
Smart people, Stable place

Cons

Mediocre middle management
Takes for ever to get promoted

Advice to Senior Management

Leave your ego at home

Pros

Good manager, fit to my major. The colleagues are very talented. The work load is reasonable. The location is good also.

Cons

The cafe is not so good. The job is quite routine, so not that interesting. I cannot think of any more.

Pros

Process and management oriented development environment
Good guidance for new hirer
Great communication among employee
stable market share

Cons

Conservative company development strategy
Slow response to new technology
Long path for career promotion

Advice to Senior Management

Think more aggressively and upfront

Pros

1) Worklife balance
2) Easygoing
3) Lots of free time and food

Overall an easy place. to work. Your wife will be happy you work there

Cons

1) No career advancement
2) Mediocre salary

Advice to Senior Management

Give people more opportunities

Pros

Smart and fun coworkers in a laid back working environment. People tend to approach things in a very logical and rational way. Geek humor is prevalent throughought the company. The employee amenities are excellent - individual offices, decent cafeteria, snacks and drinks, and fun company outings.

Cons

Not a lot of room for serious career advancement, and the algorithmic compensation structure does not encourage heroic efforts. Natick is a sleepy town for young professionals.

Pros

This is a stable environment in a great location. The work-life balance is excellent. They have an old but established product. Lots of bright people around

Cons

The company is full of slogans about their values that are largely absent in practice. The review process is political and highly unfair. People stick around for decades and do next to nothing. They are promoted based on who they know. The biggest problem is that this environment is detached from the real world of software development. The skill set you pick up may not be what others need. In short you have to drink the kool-aid and sing the company song otherwise you are in trouble.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the middle management. Bring people from outside. Stop being so insular

Pros

Benefits are outstanding. Free breakfast, subsidized on-site gym, summer weekends at Mt. Washington, NH, winter cruises to Cozumel, Mexico. Facility is nice. Conference rooms are comfortable Almost everyone has an office; everyone has a flat-panel 17 inch monitor. On-site cafeteria is cheap and food is good. Free parties ("Tuesdays") with food and liquor about once-a-month. Pay is decent (but not great) and bonuses are OK.

Cons

Extremely bad management. The middle managers are the most inept group of people you could have the misfortune to meet. Engineers who can't write code and can't ever get a project finished are the ones promoted. The internal processes, such as the build system, are a buggy nightmare. The templates for writing internal documents, including performance reviews and software specs were all designed by people who have no idea of how document templates work. The performance review cycle is ridiculously elaborate and rewards inaction and ineptness.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of 50% of the middle managers are 75% of the directors. Get rid of the Build-and-Test system; even the engineers who work on it hate it.