MathWorks Reviews

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

Nice friendly place to work. Been here for 10 years. That should say something.

Cons

There is not much of vertical movement within the company

Advice to Senior Management

Increase the base pay and have a better path for the employees to move up the ladder.

Pros

MathWorks' product is well established and the company has really good financial performance. Great people around. The product development process is rigorous. As a developer, you need to have formal, written definition the requirements and it got to go through internal reviews before you can start writing a single line of code. Good documentations support. It's a great place to learn Software Development. It seems to be *very* stable in MathWorks. People around stays for 10 years or more!

Cons

Standard big company, lots of meetings to attend, even it's not relevant to you. I have worked in the UK office, and a large portion of your time is spent on making phone calls with people in MathWorks US office, trying to explaining what your code means. Or the other way round, when you have problems using others' code. People stays there for long, that means it's hard to have a change there. My manager there has been a developer for 9 years before transferring to his management role. Another QA guy hsa been there for 5 years. These are actually young guys in the office. There are ones who have worked for MathWorks for 20 years.

Pros

Quaterly stakeholder bonuses are very generous and the atmosphere surrounding the six month release cycle provides challenges all the time. Other employees are usually wiling to help.

Cons

Diversity at MathWorks is an issue at least in development. I'm not sure if this is because there are not enough U.S. workers who are qualified to work there or if it is an issue with recruiting. It seems most people in development will be foreign born and I see this continuing in the future.

Pros

Good technology that is development driven - gives the ability to become a much more rounded and customer focused engineer

Cons

Becoming a bit more big USA corporate in places

Pros

Expose yourself know the cutting edge tool
Experience with bright and smart people and enjoy the fun
Good chance to learn the technology

Cons

Just market salary. It is not competitive
A little slow process and uncertain on the career path for the future

Advice to Senior Management

Need to consider employee's career path and competitive benefit

Pros

Great benefits, 401K matching, quarterly bonus, interesting technical work, intelligent technical co-workers.

Cons

Extreme micro managing, lots of processes to follow. You have to work 'around' the meetings and the documentation. This means a very long day just to get your actual work done. No time for breaks or lunch, many people eat at their desks.

Always need to do better. I have witnessed people work so hard only to be told that is your job, now do better than that. They want only superstars, but even if you are a superstar, you are not recognized for it. I think they strive on making you feel less than adequate so they can control you better.

No flexibility to work from home. Policy is 0-3 times a year with management approval only.

Advice to Senior Management

Give more promotions, don't be afraid to really boost your employees confidence.
Too many procedures too controlling.
Don't spend so much time developing more procedures, instead spend time encouraging and developing the people in your organization.
Give constructive criticism, make the people in your organization feel valued for the work they are doing and the achievements they've met.

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

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