Sybase Reviews

Pros

- Great location if you live in Tri-Valley
- On-site gym
- Some chances to work on newer technology (mobile, Eclipse plugins)
- Health insurance can be VERY comprehensive for not a lot of cash out-of-pocket. Really cheap drug co-pays.
- Lots of good people, who know what they are doing and are good engineers. Everyone I've worked with is good natured and helpful.

Cons

Day to day
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Unbelievably bureaucratic development process. There's a ton of overhead involved in just being able to check out and change one file. Managers must approve code checkins. Code reviews are done, but good luck getting your system set up to take part. Many internal tools were developed in-house, and it shows. Quality seems to be hit or miss, and is quite frankly, understaffed.

Much work is done overseas, so if there's a problem blocking you, you're pretty much stuck until the next day.

Strategy
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Lots of disarray when it comes to product strategy. Who is doing what? What are we doing? It seems to change every couple of months. There's a fine line between reacting to what customers/markets want and not sticking to a strategy long enough to see what works. There's also a sad lack of understanding of the target developers.

Management
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While I may be reporting an isolated case, there's lots of micro-management of day-to-day tasks. There are good managers here, but it's very uneven.

Advice to Senior Management

Bring the jobs back to the US and you'll see a big increase in morale and quality. Take a hard look at your processes and ask if they make sense anymore or could be done more efficiently.

Pros

Co-workers are talented, experienced, and friendly. Everyone is always willing to help. Great for learning and acquiring new skills.

Office building is very nice, with individual offices for everyone.

Management is non-toxic. Little to no micro-management. You are given a relatively large degree of freedom.

Cons

Relatively little product direction or product identity. It was not at all clear what the product was trying to be, what niche it was trying to fill, the size of that niche, whether the niche had a future, and so on. Engineering or marketing initiatives would be heralded as the next big thing, only to fizzle out within a few months.

Room for career growth was limited after a certain point. It did not appear to be much of a concern for management.

It was very easy, and tempting, to settle into a comfortable routine and to be lulled into complacence. However, such complacence has a price where professional growth is concerned.

Advice to Senior Management

Figure out what problem the product is trying to solve and what the market for the product is.

Pay more attention to employee morale and professional growth.

Pros

Very few companies in the tri-valley

Cons

They can do a better job on product roadmap

Advice to Senior Management

just integrate with SAP already. SAP is a better company

Pros

Get to work on pretty tricky pieces and visibility

Cons

Technical ladder and the remuneration

Advice to Senior Management

Need to become little bit more aggressive ..

Pros

Technically interesting and challenging
Good people to work with

Cons

Lack of respect towards employees
Shipping jobs to India
Cannot work from home

Advice to Senior Management

Respect people
Invest in the products

Pros

Work life balance, flexibility, autonomy

Cons

There is a level of bureaucracy that is not ideal

Pros

mostly good people to work with, cool technology and services

Cons

no advancement opportunities, very political, slow decision making at upper level, no trust in employees, fear based, trust issues

Advice to Senior Management

remember why you hired people in the first place - trust that
get out of the "click" culture at management level
improve salaries and bonuses
be aware that many employees, even the long term ones, roll their eyes at the "click" culture and are much more aware of what is going on in reality vs the communication you put out there

Pros

Decent Benefits
Great location
Decent pay increase/rate

Cons

No avenue for training or developing oneself.
Lack of Leadership commitment.

Advice to Senior Management

Properly and accurately identify your team player.
Acknowledgment for a job well done should be shared among the team.
Honesty earns respect, If leadership is indirect with the way in which they handle their team then trust is lost.

Pros

good company that i worked for over 10 years, friend colleagues and easy job to do, but low salary !

Cons

Poor growth and no stocks
bonus was rarely given and even when given was very low
the stock price is low

Advice to Senior Management

good company that i worked for over 10 years, friend colleagues and easy job to do, but low salary !

Pros

Good engineering systems
Technical competency
Lots of good team work
Good work life balance and flexibility to work
Job security

Cons

Poor growth and no stocks
bonus was rarely given and even when given was very low
the stock price is low

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on company growth
Need to get more market share for the company
Need more outside folks to take over the management