MathWorks Reviews

Pros

There are a lot of smart people, good software.
If you drink the kool-aid and buy-in to the contract, then it is probably a nice place to work, if you don't, don't even consider this company.

Cons

Glacial pace of development
Very little influence due to organization structure
Macintosh platform all but ignored, despite management statements to the contrary
Lots of lip service to core values - not much in practice
If you want to be creative - MathWorks is not the place to be

Advice to Senior Management

Let the incredible engineers MathWorks hires have creative freedom. Though the charts have lots of years of up-and-to-the-right, that doesn't mean that you are creating the best software. Focus on the customer. Short of this, someone is likely to put a pretty face on a competing OpenSource software (Octave for example) and take a giant bite out of your revenues.

Pros

Smart people
Rapid fans for customers developing really awesome products and results
Good work, life environment
Stable, profitable company
Defacto standard in the market

Cons

Control is quite centralized
Upper management has been with the company a long time so it's hard to gain real traction and influence
Control is maintained through detailed processes that stifle innovation and creativity
Ambition is a four letter word

Advice to Senior Management

You need to figure out how to make the company rewarding for people hired in the last 5 years

Pros

- smart people
- stable employment

Cons

- bereft of leadership
- no accountability
- no career potential

Advice to Senior Management

I think that the biggest problem that the mathworks is its entrenched hierarchy that shows no leadership, innovation, or ability to change. They are constantly playing catch-up with what competition they have in various sectors of their business. Frankly, having some real competition would probably do the company the world of good. Perhaps then they would actually start getting rid of the real "muda" like the inadequate build system and the division of engineers required to maintained it. Or actually have deadlines that mean something. And no, it isn't a case of "measure twice, cut one" it is simple, old-fashioned design by committee.

Pros

Interesting problems, smart people to work with, Core values are largely practiced well, pretty good compensation and benefits, company has good reputation for your next job, decent bonus structure, lots of food and drink

Cons

The company is losing its way and not valuing employees by pushing out experienced staff to lower costs, development processes are archaic, decision making is slow but not for the consensus-building reasons they say, no equity, when the core values aren't followed they're mutilated, no respect for the skills you have other than maybe what they think they hired you for, opaque review process that is sometimes used abusively for political purposes, key decisions are only made by trusted old-timers and if you're not one you can end your career quickly by attempting improvements, remote work policy is absurd

Advice to Senior Management

Value your employees again. Get up to the present day in your management and development processes. Get rid of the old-timers who only use the Core Values as a means of control when it's convenient. Truly practice continuous improvement even when there isn't a crisis.

Pros

Excellent benefits, work environment was very modern and well thought out, CEO was inspiring and communicated the vision very well.

Cons

From a sales perspective you had to be on the outside team or it wasn't a sales job. If you were willing to stick it out with low salary for 5-7 years you might get a chance to move into a outside role, otherwise it was very limited from a growth track into new challenges and higher earnings potential.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a look at the industry standard and do your best to compensate those dedicated few who are willing to stay on the team.

Pros

The place is very stable, stress is low, pay and benefits are decent (not great). Lots of very technical and interesting people.

Cons

Barely competent mid-level management, strong hierarchy. No career growth. Process heavy at the cost of innovation. 20th century style management.

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management is talented but centralizes way too much decision making. There need to be some career path, otherwise only the least talented, least motivated people will stay.

Pros

work load there is not that high and good place to enjoy life and work, besides, Boston is a great place

Cons

rely too much on Matlab itself to develop new tools, if u want to stick to the same job and company, that is great place

Advice to Senior Management

managers are friendly for those I had talked, relationship among co-workers are nice, they have internal evaluations on employee's performance each year, it will determine seasonal bonus. not sure whether other companies have or not.

Pros

- Most of the employees are very bright
- Great technology
- Wonderful campuses
- Among the best benefits I've ever had

Cons

- Very controlling organization makes it hard for ideas to grow and for individuals feel like they are able to make a difference
- Despite great emphasis on processes, many things are still very confusing. Processes and guidelines are not consistently followed up the org chart

Advice to Senior Management

MathWorks core values are one of the companies greatest strengths. I think it has been a while since management has taken step back and look at how they some of their management practices reflect these values in today's corporate environment.

Pros

Respect for employees
Excellent team mentality
Very rational workplace
Company's heart is in the right place

Cons

Overly engineered
Emphasizes process over product
Can be slow to move
Undervalues product marketing management vs. engineering

Advice to Senior Management

Although you have a process for "at bats," the approval process is slow and tedious, and can deter / defeat the spirit of innovation you seek to cultivate.

Pros

The upsides of The Mathworks:

-- Stable company, which is highly profitable and will continue to be so for some time to come.

-- It is a safe, secure, low-risk environment, where you will not get laid off if you are a decent performer relative to your peers, if you work well with others, and if you don't annoy any of the certain wrong persons.

-- Benefits are pretty good relative to most of the corporate world these days.

The Mathworks of 2011 is a fine place to work for certain kinds of people. You will be fine here if:

-- You are not bothered by overarching bureaucracy and process that invades every aspect of the workplace.

-- You are OK with the concept that there is only "One Right Way" to do anything.

-- You are a young person with modest aspirations (don't care about making much money, and not ambitious for career advancement)

-- You are an experienced person who can suspend disbelief, ignore much of what you have learned with your experience, and just do as you are told without challenging it (even if you know better).

Cons

The downsides of The Mathworks:

-- It is nearly impossible accomplish things efficiently and productively, due to all of the process, bureaucracy, and endless review and analysis of the smallest things.

-- Rigid, draconian rules of control (such as no telecommuting or working at home).

-- Risk-taking and innovation are not permitted unless it originates from one of the special few people, most of whom are old-timers.

-- The company's financial performance depends on the near-monopoly status of it's major products. That status is starting to get chipped away by open source alternatives, although it's going to take a very long time for this to have a significant impact.

You will not like working at The Mathworks if:

-- You like to get things done.

-- You are ambitious and have financial or career aspirations.

-- You are any kind of unconventional, non-conforming, or independent-thinking; or if you have significant experience, and have courage in your convictions. Any of those traits will be dysfunctional and will lead to an unhappy ending (assuming you are able to get hired).

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to the days when you understood that your job is to create a great environment to get the right things done, and hire great people and then inspire them and enable them to get great things done; rather than continuing down the path of hiring great people, and then disabling them with a completely top-down, tightly controlled, uninspiring environment.