TiVo Reviews

Pros

No so stressful. Everyone knows what he/she needs to work on. Flexible hours. People are friendly and helping each other.

Cons

A lot of runing tests over and over. Too familiar to the test cases that people sometimes over look problems.

Advice to Senior Management

Exchange people from and to different group so that the work won't be so bored. Hire more permanent workers will eliminate training.

Pros

Everyone gets a Tivo and a TV at their workspace

Cons

Most of the QA workers there are only Contractors and there for only a short amount of time

Advice to Senior Management

Should offer to keep contractors on board

Pros

A pioneer (invented the DVR space), and one of a few consumer electronics that people often 'love' and are passionate about.
Very open culture (encourages sharing of ideas with people at all levels of the org), and a real 'we can do this' attitude especially off of the big Legal wins.

Cons

A company that is still trying to figure itself out, to get the credit it deserves and to go the distance and be the leader. Is poised to be a leader in the converging market of home entertainment (uniting in one device what many others only offer a portion of.)
Challenges ahead are delivery on promises and executing on strategy and showing that through increased sales (both revenue and subscriber growth.)

Advice to Senior Management

Go after the deals, but do not over commit. Better to succeed on a smaller amount than to bite off more than we can chew and regret it later.

Pros

Most people are nice and the environment is not as stressful, free fruit, bicycles available for breaks, parties throughout the year, everyone being paid on holidays even contractors (this no longer applies but it was nice while it lasted).

Cons

Lack of communication including upper management and contractors, issues with documents being poorly written, no room for career growth, upper management employees act all high and mighty, continuing to hire more contractors when there is no space, rarely converts contractors to full-time employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow contractors some room to grow or let them learn more than what they are working on. Also, it would be helpful if all documents were edited so that everyone can understand what needs to be done.

Pros

Talented people
Good work culture - focus on engineering and design integrity
Work is a bit demanding but not unreasonable - when you explain the effort estimate, the managers listen.
You can work from home city if your work allows it.

Cons

The future looks uncertain - it is not clear whether the company will be able to reclaim leadership. It is not clear what new products/ideas will be game changer.
There is a serious space crunch. New people are getting hired but there is too little space to seat everyone comfortably. But probably this is a very short term kind of thing.

Pros

pretty good benefits; cheap sodas; free fruit Tues and Thurs

Cons

Continually changing company direction; awful commute - company is in the middle of a marsh; need to drive everywhere; no parking; no matching 401K;

Pros

People, product, technology, brand response

Cons

Executive organization, ability to lead, lack of focus on customer relationships, revenue model

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on customer relationships to grow the business, change the financial model to support it.

Pros

You get TiVo at a discounted rate. There are few parties over the course of the year, and a blue moon holiday.

If you can follow whatever your boss says with no questions asked, you may grow.

IT department offers challenges such as tough work environment, and open ended problems to solve. This department doesn't command a whole lot of respect though

Cons

Having worked for a very long time in the IT department (not the product engineering), this department clearly is clueless and doesn't have its act together. Employees in this department are overworked and are not respected enough.

Managers have "my way or the high way attitude", and brown nose their way up. Talented people get wasted or get fired

Budgets are constantly evaluated and people are fired at constant intervals. Not the best place to be if you have other offers in hand

Advice to Senior Management

Care for people

Pros

Cool technology, nice people developing interesting products

Cons

Not very aggressive company they need to be more aggressive

Advice to Senior Management

go after new more business more aggressively

Pros

- The company has been able to secure deals with MSOs and other partners, so there is great opportunity ahead if the company can focus and execute.
- Even with all of the work that needs to be done, most engineers work a manageable 40-50 hours per week.
- Absolutely no way you can get fired.
- The company is small enough that an individual engineer can have a large impact.
- TiVo has a core group of smart and talented people that are great to work with.
- Good work receives recognition.
- Competition between engineers is discouraged.
- Clear path for career advancement.

Cons

- Ridiculous number of managers for a company the size of TiVo.
- You will work with some of the worst contractors in the world.
- Company consistently overcommits to work and underestimates the effort.
- No matching 401K.
- Headquarters is located in a swamp.
- The code base is large, complex and over-engineered in many places.
- IT department is awful.

Advice to Senior Management

- Reduce the management overhead at TiVo.
- Remove obstacles so engineers can focus on adding features and improving the product.
- Focus resources on the products and features that will make the company successful.
- Stop outsourcing. It is not saving the company money and it is severely affecting product quality (Premiere!).