Mentor Graphics Reviews in San Jose, CA Area

Pros

not micro-managed
decent pay and benefits
sr. management genuinely has employees interests in mind
nice campus in Wilsonville; nice facility in San Jose

Cons

can be political (isn't that true everywhere?)
company is not on a strong growth path. Employee growth suffers as a result. Stagnant.

Advice to Senior Management

take risks, move into new markets, grow the company. How can you fit into the "new economy"?
consider better stock options and incentive plans for non-sales employees

Pros

good work life balance
not too much pressure

Cons

no promotion opportunity
nothing new, it is same pace and same work.
average working culture.
inaccurate performance review
your boss is your god. no escape.
Very minimal HR role

Advice to Senior Management

This is low energy company. Even if one wants to do some thing new, he is not encouraged ( even though caliber ( biggest mentor product) came from such effort), No one puts pressure on you but at the same time no one ask question to under performer as well. If i call bonus as bogus, it is not inappropriate.

This is not one company but group of difference divisions with different work culture and practices under one big umbrella.

Pros

Competent and efficient management.
Good benefits.
Stock purchase plan.
Four week of vacation.
More or less competitive salary.
Working on interesting projects.

Cons

Compensation might be not satisfactory for some.
Performance review process may be quite subjective and inaccurate.
in some cases. Annual raises might be quite frugal.

Advice to Senior Management

No advice.

Pros

I've been working for Mentor Graphics for many years now. Smart coworkers, great environment, great opportunities for career advancement, great vacation - 24 working days! Overall, a great place to be.

Cons

Compensation package is not on par with other companies in the same industry. Stock options are deplorable, bonus is minimal, base salary lags behind other companies', incompentence is tolerated more than I'd like it to be.

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management is driving the company in the right direction

Pros

Very Flexible Work Style. Good benefits compared to Many Bay Area companies. Decent Salaries. The company has a friendly work culture and gives importance to personal time and space.

Cons

There are not many opportunities for moving up the ladder withing the company / division. There are not many managerial positions come along

Advice to Senior Management

Though it is difficult to create new managerial positions, it would be effective to find other ways to provide incentives / opportunities to grow.

Pros

- Learn the state of art tools and deal with all different companies from Start-ups to large companies. Good learning experience.
- Good sales team and team coaching
- Caring management

Cons

- Hard to get promoted in your career after several years' hard work
- Some tough people to deal with

Advice to Senior Management

Need be more aggressive to compete with Synopsys and Cadence and lead the competition.

Pros

Everyone has offices (at least in San Jose). San Jose office is relatively convenient (not like, say, Fremont) to most people in Silicon Valley.

Cons

I have yet to really understand how MGC's management works. It is not always clear who is making decisions. Recent cutbacks in benefits.

Advice to Senior Management

Think about what you need to do to keep employee morale at a high level even after the recession ends.

Pros

One of the top three EDA companies (Obviously mentor is the 3rd after Synopsys and Cadence). Decent number of FTO days that is not compared to any other company in the Silicon Valley. Note this is prior to 2009 cuts which took it down from 24 days to 15 days which is still OK but not superb as it was before

Cons

Most of senior managers in the product divisions (specially in the small product groups that don't have decent revenue) are clueless. Many of them are from different industries and don't understand much about EDA or semiconductor and want to run the company as a pure software company.

Advice to Senior Management

Chairman, CEO, and most of the GMs/VPs are clueless about what is happening in the product divisions. The board of directors should rock the boat and change most of the managers.

Pros

Great company, benefits and pay are very good. Facilities are nice with gym and cafeteria.
Best thing of all, no cubes everyone has nice offices. One fo the best companies to work for.

Cons

EDA is not a growing market. Company keeps looking at making acquisition in other markets in order to generate growth.
Employees used to get 5 weeks of vacation per year, which was very unique, but has now been lowered to 3.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is still concerned about their employees. It is a medium size company with a little bit left of the small company feeling, however there needs to be more efficiency. Not all employees have the urgency to get things done.

Pros

You get separate rooms, as opposed to cubicles. Very good culture and work environment. You are free to do experimentation. Transparent policies. Great time-off benefit. Good 401k match and ESPP locking. The hours are very flexible. As long as the schedule is met and all dependencies are resolved, you can work whenever you want. Mentor has distributed teams, so there are proper communication and defined goals as opposed to hidden or shady practices.

Cons

Very little or no growth opportunity. Lower pay package than industry standard. Poor performance of stock. Bad bonus structure. Very difficult to change groups, which may lead to monotonicity after a while.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide opportunity for employees to grow. Too flat organization structure is as bad as too hierarchical. Strike a balance. Move people around in different groups, so that overall productivity increases.