Opera Software Reviews

Pros

Excellent work / life balance

Fantastic friendly and casual atmosphere

Extremely international (Especially in the Oslo and Japan offices)

Talented coworkers (at least in engineering)

Solid technology

Cons

Despite being crucial to the company's success, non European offices are treated as second class when it comes to autonomy of decisions, and career advancement

Middle managers are a mixed bag: some are great, but it is definitely not systematic

Salaries are reasonable when compared to the industry average, but less so when compared to direct competitors and other companies demanding the same level of qualifications.

Advice to Senior Management

The focus has shifted recently from building great technology to monetizing it. While that is important, reducing the amount of attention paid to technology puts the long term future of the company at risk. The engineering department is good, and may come up with good products, but a strategic direction important.

Pros

Flex hours and employee perks.

Cons

Communication issues, organization issues, favoritism.

Pros

Although there has been some recent changes - there is still quite a lot of liberty on what you can do and quite flexible work hours and culture. Engineering wise there are a lot of people who you can learn from, who also will readily help you out for any difficulties you have if you ask.

Cons

The company has changed directions significantly due to recent management changes, and due to that technological innovation has slowed down a lot - the focus is more on short term revenue. Operations wise it can only get better - as it is as unorganized and slow as it can possibly be.

Advice to Senior Management

Focusing on revenue is not a bad thing at all, but if revenue is what the company is focusing on, the employees should also get compensation based on quarterly or annual figures.

Pros

-learning curve is huge
-employee satisfction

Cons

-Management sucks, they don't have good decision taking capability

Advice to Senior Management

should ne neutral toward all employees

Pros

Management is always helpful
Lots of different cultures are working there, and integration is really good
Lots of gatherings and meetings
Canteen
Good place to work if you have children

Cons

Everything is very slow and NIH syndrome means the wheel is being reinvented more than necessary.
Bad cross department communication.
Boring brand, and no one there to do something to change it.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire less Opera fans, and get someone who can tell you what needs to change to capture a larger user base (especially in the west)

Pros

Professionally satsfying, easy and informal communication, best place to work, good salary, good learning new technologies, very satisfying technically, exquisite team work

Cons

None. Very good company, no rivalry, no small pay package, no bossism, no career disruption, no backbiting, no lacklustre performance by employees

Advice to Senior Management

Good for project management, very technical and well-co-ordinated leadership, very able administration, very wide network across the world, best company to career growth

Pros

- good flexibility in terms of work location and vacation time
- interesting challenges and systems to work on
- some very talented colleagues

Cons

- organization is overly flat, giving few opportunities for professional growth
- change and movement inside of the company is slow

Advice to Senior Management

- compensation is below industry standards
- promotions should be merit based

Pros

The engineering teams usually have confidence and pride in their products' quality and focusing on how they can satisfy the customer.

Cons

In technology site, the management is likely to be competent. In business side, they are totally lacking strategy and vision. The founding members are still holding power in the organization and they invites their friends on board regardless of his/her performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Be aware that you are no longer private company.

Pros

It's one of the very few good places to work in Poland when it comes to software engineering job positions.

Cons

I think there might have been a little bit too much favoritism towards people who worked together at previous companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Try focusing a little bit more on talent discovery and helping passionate people do what they can do the best.

Pros

Work with some of the best people in the industry, and the people are nice too.

Cons

We have too much to do, and never seem to be able to get enough people for all our projects.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on handling the increasing number of engineers.