Rackspace Reviews

Pros

Good culture, extremely laid back - but your best is expected. There are people in every team who hold their teammates accountable for quality work. Management tries to promote from within, so for the most part they are connected with what the needs of the team are.

Cons

compensation, compensation, compensation. Raises are a joke, small bumps are insulting - if there isn't enough money in the pot for a decent raise, then shell out stock and a hefty bonus.

Advice to Senior Management

I understand when the company was smaller, it was cheaper to let a heavyweight go and train up a new person. Now that the company is getting bigger $1B revenue means this is now the big leagues. You need to pay better to keep your top people, who else is going to keep your culture alive? If the average senior sysad or Engineer is only staying 3-4 years, you are losing culture and valuable experience when they move along to a competitor. 9 out of 10 rackers will tell you they LOVE this company, but at the end of the day people are going to go where the money is. Right now its a good time to be an experienced IT professional, step up or lose out.

Pros

Fantastic leadership by Graham and Lanham
Laid back environment
Many on the job perks
Competitive benefits
Profit sharing and bonuses (based on performance review)
Peer and management performance reviews to offer helpful feedback and incentivise fanatical effort

Cons

Communication has been complicated at times
Growth has been rampant, so changes are very common

Advice to Senior Management

We need the VP level management to be as competent as our Director level management- get rid of the busybodies and promote successful, technically inclined management up.

Keep up the great work!

Pros

Sales reps on the floor are great people to work with. Nice Building and marketing spin around the greatness of Rackspace.

Cons

Jim Lewandowski has no clue of what we go through on a daily basis. I doubt he would be able to close a simple deal himself. His direct reports, so called VP of sales have less of a clue; however they were brought up through the Rackspace of old. Sales leadership needs new ideas and direction. The 30 day assault of make your number or else is getting old.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop preaching and start leading

Pros

Technical people are looked upon favorably.
Lots of opportunity to advance skillset on the job.
You can actually reach upper level people (CEO, chairman, etc).
There is indeed free soda, coffee, and tea.
It seems that leveling up within a position is quite consistent and regular (e.g. support 1 -> support 2).

Cons

Gym is composed of solely of machines and dumbbells (no barbells for people who want to lift weights).
The "cafe" mentioned is non-existent as far as I can tell.
Free snacks is limited to apples and bananas.
There is no official carpool program, although they list this as a perk (in fact, from what I observed there is no employee carpool, just friends who carpool).
Rackspace University is geared towards IT and Management/Business, with other classes taking a backseat or not being held.
On-site health services means free health screenings every so often.
Career progression can be slow if you want to move up positions (e.g. support -> network).

Advice to Senior Management

I notice that the company is being run in such a way that it seems that the primary intent is for execs and other leaders to be able to exercise their stock options and sell at a good price, while at the same time giving employees a poor stock purchase plan. I think one of the biggest pieces of non-financial evidence is the fact that Napier spends a lot of time courting the media. This makes me feel unsure about the future of the company and whether leadership and employees interests are aligned.

Pros

- Casual work environment
- Great people
- Excellent place to learn and grow as an individual
- Lots of in-house training offered, some of it is excellent
- The culture is amazing

Cons

- People/teams are often not held accountable to fix their mistakes
- Currently struggling with maintaining their culture due to the large company growth
- Losing a lot of talented people because of salary/compensation concerns

Advice to Senior Management

Instead of just promoting people to a higher level in their current position, hire internally for the management opportunities that are available.

Pros

- Casual dress
- WFH opportunities
- Flexible hours
- Free soda & snacks
- Breakfast and lunch always available on-site
- Laid back atmosphere
- Good compensation
- Great managers and leadership
- Passionate employees
- Awesome support staff

Cons

- Distracting open-floor atmosphere...
- Location is on the far east side of San Antonio...
- They outsource work that could be done in-house

Advice to Senior Management

Great management staff but sometimes they're overwhelmed. Perhaps more project managers would help? Better organization and clear direction to the all teams and departments would benefit this company by leaps and bounds.

Pros

Co-workers for the most part are some of the most technically talented in the business. Senior Leadership and our CEO is very optimistic and visionary and you can't help but love the guy because he has a great personality. Free Drinks. Casual Dress Code. and Friends and Family policy.

Cons

Salaries are under the industry average for just about every position. The only reason we retain any talent is due to the poor economy and nice culture. Stock Options/raises/bonuses are a joke for support floor Rackers if they are available at all. The new middle management layer has done more damage than good. Many do not understand the responsibilities of the Rackers they manage and this causes confusion and poor performance reviews based on ignorance and reading statistic spreadsheets. Nobody on the support floor seems to be appreciated at all anymore due to the disconnect between mid management and Rackers...even though Upper Management says we are the secret sauce.

Advice to Senior Management

Please stop hiring more mid-managers and use the money to hire more support floor Rackers to keep Fanatical Support alive. Treat your Senior Rackers like they are worth gold..because they are. Give everyone a defined path of career advancement and please keep salaries at the industry average so we can hold on to the people who helped make Rackspace a great company to work for.

Pros

Amazing place to work. Flexible. Possesses an awesome Culture. And our customers are amazing. If you love working with people, you will love this place.

Cons

With great culture unfortunately comes cliques, favoritism, and unfairness at times. A lot of ups and downs here but our senior leadership is amazing.

Pros

The Rackers create an environment for you to enjoy coming to work every day.

Cons

Rapid growth, No employee stock purchase plan

Pros

No matter what your job title, you have the ability to make change if you are passionate enough about what you are doing.

Cons

May take awhile for some to become acclimated to Rackspace and learn how to get thing done. Individual contributors have a hard time being successful here.

Advice to Senior Management

I am very happy with the direction of the company. I believe we have a bright future ahead of us. Keep the focus and keep communicating the strategy.