Sun Microsystems Reviews in Denver, CO Area

Pros

Very much as free and open environment for employees. What it lacks in stability, it makes up for in benefits, pay, and freedom.

Cons

Just a matter of time before the ship sunk, and all the employees left either voluntarily or involuntarily. Executive management never did find out how to make income exceed outgo on a lot of world-class products.

Advice to Senior Management

Too late now.

Pros

Work - life balance
Great people
Interesting work
Good pay / benefits
Very good at providing annual goals and reviews in a timely manner

Cons

Sun still works in silos - hard to get cross-functional collaboration
Too big - too much bureaucracy - hard to feel you can make a difference

Advice to Senior Management

Sun is so up and down - it is sad that it is soon to be sucked up by Oracle.
Needed more decisive leadership.

Pros

Excellent benefits and the ability to work from home. For the most part... the people are great to work with.

Cons

No leadership direction and the upcoming acquisition make it very difficult to work there. Layoffs are on the way. Stay away...

Advice to Senior Management

Unfortunately there is no future there... leadership has given up without really trying. It's a very disappointing situation as Sun had great potential and products.

Pros

Sun has a great culture and a commitment to work-life balance. The formal Open Work, flexible work from anywhere program, is fantastic and gets great reviews. Other companies could learn from this successful program. The opportunity to work with cool technologies is also a draw for the technical folks. The companies leaders are inspiring (although we miss Scott McNealy's fun style). The pay and benefits are very good.

Cons

Always wondering if we are going to be consistently profitable again. The constant concern about layoffs and being acquired is draining. People are mixed about the Oracle deal - great for the company? Bad for employees?

Advice to Senior Management

We hope you made the right choice with Oracle...

Pros

Great people overall. I have had may incredible co-workers and mangers during my decade + career at Sun. Teamwork has always been the norm- employees are always willing to help and support each other . Hard work is both appreciated and recognized by peers and managers. Kudos are always given for an outstanding job. efits

Cons

-Obviously the company has fallen on hard times. Raises are scarce and small, but most employees are just happy to keep their jobs.
-Training and advancement opportunities are not what they used to be due to down sizing and budget cuts..
-Constant stress over who will be laid-off next.
-Team building activities and company parties are rightfully a thing of the past, but I miss them.

Advice to Senior Management

Thanks for not selling to IBM!!!

Pros

Flexible work life balance, and my boss.

Cons

Lots of people at higher levels doing the job of someone at a lower level.... can be tough to be strategic

Advice to Senior Management

We really need to start executing, how can we make that happen faster?

Pros

Work/life balance is great, as well as the compensation and flexibility.

Cons

There is an inability to really make a difference and be heard, due to the size and remote worker scenario.

Advice to Senior Management

Give the company a big haircut at the top and get rid of the fatness of middle management. Too many engineers and non-business educated people trying to run the business like it's a game or something. Get some real marketing expertise, please.

Pros

Excellent place to work in terms of work life balance. Great great culture and awesome products. Very engineering focused company with a decent amount of perks.

Cons

Can't seem to sell anything it creates or make good of any aquisitions it does :( As a result, the company hasn't been able to turnaround which then means that the vertical growth opportunities have been non existant at best.

Advice to Senior Management

Please replace the executive leadership team as well as the board of directors who actually are more results oriented.

Pros

Good benefits, competitive pay, and great work life balance. Some really great people at Sun.

Cons

The company has been struggling for some time so beware if you are looking for job security. Layoffs come every 6 months and reorganizations are almost just as often.

Advice to Senior Management

Open communication with employees. Figure out how deep you need to cut, regain confidence of employees and customers, look at overall company strategy , and turn the company around to profitability.

Pros

If you're in the right division/department, you can get lots of opportunity for exposure to cool technology. Most of the people who work there are great - very personable, relaxed but not slackers. There are some extremely bright people at Sun, and some of them actually know how to communicate their knowledge.

Cons

Though marketing itself as a meritocracy, this was not my experience. Though marketing itself as supportive of telecommuting, there was a blatant disregard of this policy at the discretion of VPs and managers - entire divisions were at one point prohibited from WFH - and this is direct contrast to the face put on by Sun to the community. That's called hypocrisy, not walking your talk, you name it. Sun is also a company in decline; the morale there, when I left, was extremely low.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire someone who knows how to run a business. Start walking your talk regarding treatment of your employees.