Red Hat Reviews

Pros

Self motivated and a lot of freedom

Cons

Team work needs to be improved

Advice to Senior Management

Senior manager should care more about employees

Pros

- get experience in different domains.

Cons

- Get too much workload due to which unable to give attention on other domain stuff.

Advice to Senior Management

There is no issue.

Pros

Probably the most outstanding positive I can say about Red Hat is its commitment to Open Source technologies. Many of the people that work here and are happy working here succeed because they believe passionately in the idea of Open Source. Even though the company makes its profit from community-developed software, it adds many resources to that development and actively works with the community to create a meritocracy of ideas.

It is also a place where you'll find some of the best minds in the business. Great engineers work here and you are in great company when developing products and planning releases.

Red Hat is an international company that really does its best to let that personality flavor operations. Currently there are more associates employed outside the US than in the US. This means there is a great deal of work on an international scale, which can be engaging and exciting.

Cons

Because Red Hat hires some of the best minds in engineering, the atmosphere is one of the most egotistical and entitled in the business. The tone is one of having too many chefs in the kitchen. Projects can take ages to move along because there are too many experts. Personalities are constantly in battle. People openly judge each other based on ridiculous standard such as what OS's they prefer or what hardware they use.

The company spent many years as an engineer-only workforce, so much of the interfaces that have been designed for the 'public' are antiquated, outdated and (frankly) embarrassing. While the company is trying very hard to engage the Enterprise-leaning public with their technology, opinions from non-engineers are sometimes sneered at, misunderstood, or not taken seriously. This is exemplified in the fact that software developers have been hired for lead management positions in the Usability side of Red Hat.

The on-boarding and entry process is very confusing. There is very little of the technical and HR support that one is usually used to when starting at a company. You're left on your own when you start, and if you have a busy manager, you're even more in the dark. It takes a solid 2-3 months to get the basic gist of what's going on at Red Hat, and by that time you're expected to know every product inside and out.

When basic concepts about products and services are discussed, there are multiple contradictory answers provided from every realm of the company. It gives the associate the sense that no one is really at the helm of the ship.

Senior management really does do well to be vocal and to be available to people in the company. The open source 'way' more or less demands that there is open communication. However, when it comes to individual managers, it's anybody's guess what you'll get stuck with. There is little 'management of the mangers' so you can end up in a dictator's ivory tower with hardly any support to help you feel supported.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership, while guiding the company well toward profits and secure market position, are risking losing their best workers because no one is helping them, no one is guiding them, and they're just left to feel inferior to the small, vocal minority of 'geniuses.' Some serious sensitivity training is needed amongst associates, with a heavy does of understanding toward new associates.

Keeping your suite of products so engineering-focused will not help the company grow. Look outside to the non-technical world who wants to take part in the Red Hat experience.

Pros

Company name is known in IT business.
Good working benefits.
International team

Cons

Salary compensation is average
Good performance is sometimes not recognized
Some of the senior management, has lack of experience for the role

Advice to Senior Management

more focus on employees, recognition and more support for personal growth within company

Pros

great technology. Good support for open source.

Cons

too many management protocols. Top heavy

Advice to Senior Management

Back off!

Pros

While I worked at the company it had a west coast feel. I don't know if things have changed since thenm

Cons

CEO did not understand sales

Advice to Senior Management

Sales is just as important as the green haired developers

Pros

Red Hat is the most ethical company I ever worked. Also, the open source mentality is seen everywhere, from Engineers to Management. If you are looking to work with Open Source, Red Hat is your best option.

Cons

I cannot really point to a single issue as a big con. A small one would be that it's *my feeling* that some Sales people needs a better understanding of Open Source. Most of them do understand, though.

Advice to Senior Management

Historically, Red Hat management is made of people who really understand open source. I trust that it'll remain the same in the future.

Pros

Easy/Laid back office climate.
A lack of formality and excessive rules.
Company has been growing throughout the recession & always has vacancies.
People here are generally positive.

Cons

Much of your experience & opinion of this company will depend on which part of Red Hat you work in as some parts can feel like you are working in any one of a million other non-special & so-so companies, while others are more like working in an evangelical church/cult (mostly in a positive way).

While the company likes to promote how different and progressive they are, sadly, they permit and suffer from all the same negative things that other companies do, such as:

Politics
Neopotism
Fiefdoms
Disconnection
Penny pinching

There is a annoyingly steady & largely pointless proliferation of slogans, project names, department names and job titles that will make your head spin and buzz if you work here.
Most don't make any sense or are very fancy & "new age" ways of saying those existing and well established functions.

Then there is a constant "air of change" which the compay beleives is good for their business, but the company doesn't understand the serious implications of constant change nor that while change, a lack of boundaries and a lack of structure is a good thing in certain departments (e.g. software dev), it is a complete disaster in others.

In addition, there are staff who still behave and function as if the company was being run out of a garage.
Red Hat is supposed to be a global compay but it hasn't really understood what this means, yet, nor properly reflected this in its systems, procedures, policies and attitudes.

There is a lot of disconnection between departments and groups and often, different groups of people are working on the same of similar areas or problems, oblivious to the efforts of others.
This leads to obvious wasted time, effort and money and which creates exasperation & a deflating effect on staff, often cumulatively.

The number of projects I have been part of and which are now gathering dust is depressing.

Red Hat is cheap and also, cheap when it doesn't need to be or where it doesn't makes sense to be.
But then it squanders lots of money on assinine consultations and ill thought out ideas, concepts and projects and which often forget or ignore basic and elemetary aspects, while the trendy and new ideas of X are given far too much weight.

Red Hat does not hire enough staff for their needs and so people are overworked and heavy demands are placed on their time. Ultimately, this leads to poor performance and people leaving.
I think the slogan "Penny wise and pound foolish" fits this company very, very well.

It pains me to write this honest review as the company has, at heart, well intentioned ideas, products and aims and the spirit/ethos of a lot of people here is refreshing & exhilarating.
They can become a great company if they play their game right, which at the moment they are not.

The free bagels donuts & snacks don't make up for a laundry list of shortcomings however, which the company has to resolve if it wants to go much further.

Advice to Senior Management

Make the necessary decisions and provide funds to deal with the structural issues.
Kill the politics
Start compensating staff in line with your demands.
Improve health benefits

Pros

A great business model, many talented people, much opportunity, interesting technology, exposure to high-level leadership both internally and with your customers, opportunities to work within high-impact projects at Fortune 500 companies. There are almost too many good things to tackle at once at Red Hat and it can result in growing pains at times, but the culture is generally one that succeeds when it is all said and done.

Cons

There are many times where you find yourself lacking resources, dealing with immature or disorganized processes, and often just plain tired from sinking much time and energy. But there is nobody standing in your way preventing you from coming up with a solution to the problem and making your mark in this relatively small company with a big brand.

Advice to Senior Management

The recent success is a testament to many years of solid management and you've done a great job managing to the street. But the consequence of piling up that cash as you worry about margins is a lack of investment in areas that need it - penny wise and pound foolish as we continue the coopetition with some heavy-weight players.

Pros

Laid back office environment
Friendly stuff
Easy commute
Huge potential

Cons

Above average salary
No stock options

Advice to Senior Management

I am pretty impressed by my manager at Red Hat, keep it up!