Pros

Still a great group of people to work with

Cons

Constantly waiting for the next layoff and lack of information about them once they are announced.

Advice to Senior Management

Last November it was announced that there would be 6000 layoffs yet we are, in the main, still waiting. Nobody tells us what's happening - each time there is a layoff you say the last one wasn't handled very well and we'll do better this time. Guess what, your doing even worse. Not knowing how long you've got a job is no way to run a business.
Flatten out the management structure - is there really a need for Vice Presidents, Senior VPs and Executive VP's???? talk about top heavy management structure

Pros

decent salaries, used to be a fun place to work but the latest cuts put too much strain on all employees.

Cons

overworked, under appreciated, not much room for advancement because upper management does not make middle management develop their employees. Long term management continues to make bad decisions with lack of intervention.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a long hard look at the middle managers you have making the decisions that impact your company! Until Sun takes the RIF process seriously, bad decisions will continue to manifest itself. How about putting the managers that are 1 level down in the role of their current manager or director and downgrade the salaries. This will not adversely affect the business much to your surprise. The "new blood" may actually spawn new ideas and revive the sinking company

Pros

Access to very intelligent people. Name recognition.

Cons

Losing monies since dot com bust, creating a culture of continuous layoffs.

Process thrash. Processes change before they are given a chance to work. Also sometimes they change so rapidly it is impossible to keep up with the latest process. This can result in a work environment that is similar to no process at all.

Advice to Senior Management

Some software does not work well using an Open Source model. Software that requires knowledge should be sold as a service and have dedicated people that understand it supporting it.

Pros

Pay is equal or better than elsewhere in industry, great benefits (though they slip a little more every year)
Flexible work environment, including telecommuting
Work/life balance is important
Friendly environment

Cons

Never know when you're going to be laid off
Managers manage from the top down; company vision is just a game of "buzzword bingo"
Extreme focus on the appearance of caring and competence
No growth opportunities; random work schedules don't allow for training
No opportunity for promotion
Fixation on outsourcing as the salvation of the company -- no in-house support for anything, from HR to office computer maintenance
Easy to wind up in a dead end
Lack of project planning means that the engineering staff is always on the verge of burnout, deadlines are only a suggestion
No rewards or recognition for doing a job well, unless you're well connected with favored managers
As long as a bad manager has superstars working for him, they'll allow that bad manager free rein to do as much damage as he can

Advice to Senior Management

Quit using layoffs as your only means of cutting costs. Get rid of Jonathan before it's too late. Stop acquiring companies; you never do anything with the technology and you end up killing them anyway -- and laying off the people involved. For the sake of all that's holy, sell MySQL before you ruin it, too.

Pros

Workplace culture is the best thing going for Sun. Very good company to establish good work/life balance. You are expected to perform, but you are treated like an adult to manage your time appropriately. This might mean long hours during crunch periods but there are opportunities to telecommute depending on your job description.

More positives: Ability to work on cool stuff, be surrounded by smart people, and have opportunities to move laterally throughout the company. Advancement opportunities are there, but you have to push for it.

Cons

Last few years have cast a lot of doubt on the competency of upper management to make the right business decisions. All too often, ambitious plans are announced to the world without any substance (i.e. feasibility analysis, engineering input, etc) behind them. Development organizations then need to scramble to figure out what the executive order really means and figure out a development strategy to meet expectations.

Advice to Senior Management

More transparency across the organization - laterally and vertically. Senior architects need to be more directly involved with project teams.

Pros

Respect for employees, flexible working arrangement

Cons

Bureaucratic processes, not fast moving

Advice to Senior Management

Institute a system that would help us understand exactly the cost anf benefit of each R&D project

Pros

Ability to easily change jobs used to be a big plus, but the last 4 to 5 years it became necessary as a tactic to hide. In the right groups you could chart your own course and work on things that were interesting, since management rewarded innovative approaches.

Cons

There was no unified direction the last couple years. All work was related to getting into an "essential" position and becoming visible. The vision changed with each quarter and MLP could not figure out how to use his capital wisely. He never seemed to settle on a strategy for longer than it took to write the quarterly report.

Advice to Senior Management

Behead Jonathan! Oh alright, just dethrone him.

Pros

Sun Microsystems has a great history of innovation. After all, it created the Java programming language. The company's current emphasis on open source and community building is laudable. CEO Jonathan Schwartz has done a wonderful job with his blog.

Cons

The Monrovia office, which focuses on business integration software, was hit particularly hard by the January 2009 layoffs. It is hard to imagine how the remaining employees can succeed with such a reduced headcount.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't give in to Wall Street's call for dramatic layoffs.

Pros

flexibility to work from home

Cons

expect employees to do a lot of things, shrinking work force means more work distributed to fewer people, lack of new blood doesn't allow for fresh ideas to be created

Advice to Senior Management

be capable of changing and adapting quickly, sometimes it takes too long to make a decision. Doing too many things at once, unable to really get out of a project.

Pros

Sun has a culture which supports work/life balance, and Sun truly does try to stand behind their employees and allow them the opportunity to work virtually or in the office, whichever is the best fit for the employee. This is a strong benefit, as it allows Sun to attract and retain talented individuals they otherwise may have lost to competitors.

Cons

Sun is a trusting and friendly culture, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, sometimes that trust can be abused by less than honest people who misrepresent themselves during the interview process, and then come on board as an employee and do nothing but support their own interests, often at large cost to Sun. I have seen many hires, sadly in HR that could be classified by any standard as a "poor hire", meaning that the hire is doing more damage than good to Sun. Because of Sun's trusting culture, these bad hires seem to multiply and it is not hard to imagine that part of Sun's current business struggles are in part because of poor hires and the subsequent retention of these hires due to lack of management backbone.

Advice to Senior Management

Look at your direct reports - are they doing what they need to do to support you? Or are they running their own agendas? Will their actions ultimately cost you - both financially and careerwise?