Glassdoor is your free inside look at Sun Microsystems reviews and ratings — including employee satisfaction and approval rating for Sun Microsystems CEO Lawrence J. Ellison. All 926 reviews posted anonymously by Sun Microsystems employees.
56% of the CEO
Lawrence J. Ellison
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 8 years
Pros – Brilliant assembly of technologists supported by an Systems Engineering group 2nd to none.
Cons – They were acquired by Oracle, who now are hiring to address hardware support, as they have traditionally been a software only company. This is not a "Con" rather an opportunity to reassemble hardworking hardware engineers.
Advice to Senior Management – Maintain the company culture of the former (early) Sun Microsystems within the Hardware component of the organization.
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-06-17 10:02 PDT
1 person found this helpful
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 7 years
Pros – Talented engineers, creative and flexible environment
Cons – Management not effective, dates slipped
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-05-29 17:59 PDT
1 person found this helpful
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 8 years
Pros – Great products, great people, great vision. This company lived cloud computing before it became a buzz word in the industry. Very good work life balance.
Cons – Failed to monetize the great ideas, ranging from Java to utility computing. Somewhere along the line, lost its leadership (especially after Scott left as the CEO). Failed to respond to changing markets.
Advice to Senior Management – Probably too late...
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend
2013-05-28 16:14 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 10 years
Pros – Smart and motivated team, good IT management, good benefits, Work from Home,
Cons – outsourced application support model is not agile and increases time to delivery, no sabbatical for long term employees, vision for company not consistently communicated, travel limits due to cost constraints, uncertain future for company as it was acquired by Oracle
Advice to Senior Management – don't out source core knowledge of apps
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-05-20 10:06 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 7 years
Pros – Sun offered developers and engineering staff independence, a creative environment, intelligent colleagues, access to high-end technology, and a great campus and working environment. There was a real commitment to quality software design.
Cons – The development process was often driven by marketing and engineering managers working at cross-purposes to one another. There was little support or fulfillment working on products that got cancelled. Ultimately it burned people out.
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend
2013-05-14 16:28 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 10 years
Pros – Sun was a great place to work in it's hey day. Great benefits, lots of team building and the all hands were always something special. They spared no expense, with guest speakers such as Dana Carvey.
Cons – Hard to get promoted from within as an Admin.
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-05-01 09:27 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 10 years
Pros – Smart people, latitude to do great things, flexible work environment, collaborative culture (for the most part). Scott and Ed were great leaders, JS was not!
Cons – Politics abounded. Jonathan Schwartz drove the company into the ground all by himself and fired anyone who disagreed with him. CMO was a joke and just sucked up to management rather than lead a marketing function.
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-04-04 15:14 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems
Pros – Incredible talent: extremely smart, very dedicated, hard-working people who believed in what they were doing.
Cons – Inability to adapt, alter course and make difficult resource decisions.
Advice to Senior Management – Learn how to say "No."
2013-04-16 08:00 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 10 years
Pros – Love working on various equipment
Cons – Lack of parts and distance is too great to drive
Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of the middle management
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
2013-03-20 15:22 PDT
I worked at Sun Microsystems full-time for more than 7 years
Pros – Ethics, hardware chops, java engineers
Cons – Inability to convert the corp. DNA from hardware to a (profitable) software company. Or simply ran out of time. Bad acquisition strategy.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
2013-03-08 20:38 PST
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