Sun Microsystems Reviews

Pros

Very smart motivated people. Lot's of opportunity to advance in skills and knowledge, not always in level of position, however.

Cons

Upper management made some extremely poor decisions and the company was never able to recover from the downturn when the tech bubble burst.

Pros

Collective knowledge is amazing, lots of bright people.
As an employee you inherit the aura the company has among technologist

Cons

Lack of clear vision for the company's future and inertia of middle management.

Pros

Very supportive direct management and upper management. Great work-live balance. Definitely one of the best companies I've ever worked at.

Cons

No-real downsides to the company. Even though Sun Micro. was a large company, it operated like a very small-company environment. So many perks associated with working there.

Pros

Friendly environment
Work from home options

Cons

Not much growth path.
Never skip hierarchy.

Advice to Senior Management

NA

Pros

- Structured organization
- Encourage use of new methodologies
- Encourage work/life balance

Cons

- Poor management
- Need to have focused with active closure on enterprise goals

Advice to Senior Management

Need to have better management in place for productivity.
There should be an continous effort of maintaining standard and work output.

Pros

Creative freedom to pursue innovative projects.

Cons

Uncertain direction in the vision of the company.

Pros

There were many opportunities for growth

Cons

Leadship became fragmented, loss of focus

Pros

The people are knowledgeable and talented. The environment is great for research oriented learning and development. There is a lot of freedom and support of technological development. Environment is centered around new technology and research. The people are great to work with, a talented group of employees.

Cons

Salary and compensation is conservative and not competitive. Lots of hard work and little reward. Environment is "old school" feeling and conservative. Company has a great attitude towards innovation and research, however overall the company does not do well in industry.

Advice to Senior Management

More feedback with employees and reward system that encourages and promotes growth within the company.

Pros

- Talented people and reseaches help you grow your capability.
- Good Facility and campus.
- Good benefits.

Cons

- Poor upper managerment
- Loyalty is more important than performance
- Politics among different BU.

Advice to Senior Management

Sun was acquired by Oracle in 2010. That is how you guys (Directors and above) manage the companies.

Pros

There were many good and talented people around. Work hours are flexible, though it may depend your manager. With the right group, you get to work with industry leading products.

Cons

The management and company bureaucracy is dense from time to time. I've went through a bunch of lousy managers and directors.

Advice to Senior Management

I thought the staffing of a number of leadership position were wrong, but, what do I know, I was just a minion. I would attribute many failure to those decision.