Nortel Networks Reviews in Santa Clara, CA

Pros

1. Very strong IP.
2. Hub for innovation.
3. Good network of people

Cons

1. Very old fashioned senior management.
2. Management in favor of stereotyped workers.

Pros

Great company history (good for your resume)
Talented, friendly and helpful co workers
Good technology
wok / life balance
decent pay

Cons

No job stability. My team reduced to half its size over a few months.
Upper management misrepresented the state of the company before bankruptcy.

Advice to Senior Management

The company does not exist nyore

Pros

Interesting projects
Got to work with good and hard working people
Fair compensation and benefits although there were less and less over years

Cons

Very tight budget and got worse every year
Layoffs happened all the time
People very stressed - no job security
Morale extremely low

Advice to Senior Management

We all know what happened to the company which is now being sold off piece by piece. No core leadship team left now to take suggestions.

Pros

Benefits are great! Pay is pretty good compared to other tech companies and the cafeteria on site was pretty good.

Cons

It's a dying company and hubris has destroyed a once great company. It should have never gone on a buying spree for dotcom companies that imploded

Advice to Senior Management

sell everything and restart! Chop off useful pieces of the company and try to rescue the ones that are worth something

Pros

Flexbility . Working from home all the time. No pressure since all talents left and no competition. All levels of management is currently looking for job as well.
It used to be a great place to work prior than year 2000 . But it went down like a roller coaster. It even got worse since the Mike Zs ninja leading styles. Company is full of black belt projects and no real work.

Cons

All talents left already . This is a sinking boat. Chapter 11 already and Chapter 7 is on the way soon. Layoff is currently happening every week and no one knows who is the next turkey on the dinning table.

Advice to Senior Management

All need to Leave ASAP. Mike Z and Joe would stay until the end ???

Pros

Some good people work there. I was allowed to telecommute, but this depends on the job and manager

Cons

Many round of layoffs in the last 8 years. Nortel's future as a company looks bleak.

Advice to Senior Management

It's too late for meaningful advice.

Pros

Flexible working hours, reputation of technical excellence, knowledgeable engineers and scientists. Customer focus

Cons

Lost focus on building excellent products; obsession with six sigma and cost cutting; Worst HR team and incompetent finance management ;

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on building great products and respect your employees

Pros

The greatest thing about Nortel in Santa Clara is the people. They care about the job and each other. The work itself is satisfying and the projects are indeed leading edge. If only upper management could get their act together.

Cons

Watching a good company spiral downward. You can't turning a company around by laying off good people. There are too many silos. Program management, especially in Ottawa, is too rigid and political. Redesigning and restarting programs keeps good hardware off the street. They never let us finish anything.

Advice to Senior Management

Sell off Enterprise and give it a shot at success. John Roese, CTO, seems to despise Santa Clara anyway - turn it loose. We have good people and good management through the director level. It's amateur hour after that.

Pros

Nortel is a large candian company, you can move within the company for different job. It would be easier to learn different skills. It used to be a good company, now is getting worst.

Cons

The senior management not doing a good job satifying employee, espcially after Mike Z. become the CEO. He drove the company down, just look at the stock today and compare to the price at the time he joined. Nothing have been improved even though he layoff a lot of people and making all the excuses to do one after another re-org.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want the company to be successful, do not take away the employee's benefit to fill you pocket.

Pros

The benefits are excellent and opportunities to grow are improving due to the company's new focus on unified communications and other technologies. Balancing work and personal time is encouraged and supported by management. The launch of new technologies and partnerships such as the IBM partnership and Microsoft partnership are offering employees new avenues to grow and expand both their knowledge base and their careers. Opportunities to grow by transferring to different divisions or departments can be found and management is usually very helpful and supportive in assisting the transfers. Breadth of portfolio and respect for the Nortel brand engender employee pride in the company.

Cons

Limited opportunities for advancing to senior positions; senior leadership positions have recently been going to those from outside the company. Also frequent churn in the management team has lead to employee uncertainty regarding direction and management loyalty to those who have been with the company a long time. The contributions of the loyal long term employees are sometimes taken for granted. Also, stock option grants have diminished greatly especially in recent years. A good portion of employees have not had sizable salary increases in over five years. There is an emphasis on hiring new grads rather than rewarding those with longevity. Resentment has been growing in the employee base.

Advice to Senior Management

Do your own due diligence to really understand what is happening in the divisions. Information can be heavily filtered as it goes upwards. Do not assume new grads can do as well as those with longevity, even if they do cost the company less. Establish tenure guidelines for the GM's so their skills and ability to move with the market stays fresh.