Pros

Fiscally astute company with leaders who demonstrate thorough understanding of the industry and managerial resolve to do what is necessary to keep the company's business results in the black.

Cons

It would be nice to see a bit more attention and money put into creating a more pleasing physical environment to work in.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work on leadership development

Pros

Great tech, opportunity to learn, IF you can get into the right group

Cons

Slave-like hours can result, middle management is clueless when passing down "development procedures" to the engineering department. More concerned with their Excel spreadsheets, and stupid metric data rather than providing a positive working environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit treating people like tools

Pros

Great management. Keeping costs down. Don't see too many useless workers. The low performing engineers usually leave the company, one way or another. The bonus program is extremely good when the company does well. The ESP program is also very good since it has a 24 month lookback period.

Cons

Salary is not very competitive compared to the market. The bonus program doesn't pay anything if the company does not do well, even if job performance was at the best level.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the good work, keep the company slim, don't over hire. Don't waste engineers time on useless training. Let's expand SSD quick.

Pros

Stable industry and stable career growth path.

Cons

It has some common issues as other big companies...

Advice to Senior Management

A more transparent business process and more effective internal training or job rotation program can help motivated employees better.

Pros

It is an extremely well-managed company from a fiscal perspective (a HUGE PLUS these days); is consistently growing market share; has made very smart investments in acquisitions; has been consistent in paying out bonuses consistent with business performance; has recently re-structured the bonus plans to pay-out more to all levels; has great products; has been around for more than 35 years and shows no signs of changing that in any way; has provided me with the challenges I want and the rewards for meeting them.

Cons

has had the reputation for paying salaries below the market; is very prudent when it comes to spending contributing to an image inconsistent with its success; doesn't have a lot of "flash" or "sexiness" as a company - always stays in the background.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in creating a stronger image or "brand" for the culture and work environment. Force yourselves from time to time to take one eye off the business and pay attention to what your employees need. It's not that much and it pays off big time! Keep doing what you're doing to sustain our strong balance sheet and great market performance. Invest some of our profits into creating a physical environment that makes employees "brag" about working here.

Pros

The demands for more capacity and performance make an environment where you're always learning. Information exchange sessions are common.

Cons

Salary increases are doled out sparingly. Incentives are done through bonuses only.

Advice to Senior Management

You've done a remarkable job building the business. Place more value on your employees.

Pros

Well-managed; proactively controlled; profitable; winning market share; lot more job securinty than most in the industry.

Cons

Not a lot of frills

Advice to Senior Management

Most are competent but need to learn what leadship and professionalism are. Others just need to grow up and treat people with some respect. CEO and CFO should continue to run a tight ship; they're doing a great job in a very tough market.

Pros

When I was there to assist in the bringup of my vendor's CAD tools, the ASIC group in Lake Forest had a refreshing mixture of entry-level (<2 years exp) engineers), mid-level (5-10 years), and senior/principals (15+ years.) Having seen many workplaces which suffered from 'one-sided' demographic, it was positive to see so many levels of expertise under one division!

In speaking with the more seasoned engineers, it seemed to me the entry-levels were underutilized (not that any of them were complaining!) The team was undergoing a prolonged training exercise -- their assignment would not have any direct impact on revenue product for at least a year.

Also, the ASIC group seemed like the envy of some other departments. A relaxed pace of workday is perhaps preferable to some of the "dungeon" work-hours practiced by other departments.

Cons

WD's mid-2008 acquisition of ST-Longmount (see WD's website for public press-release) hit the Lake Forest team like a surprise earthquake. Such a merger takes massive co-ordination between the senior levels of both parties, yet the direct manager of Lake Forest's ASIC group was given no advanced warning?!? Why would senior management do that? The result?

Some initial overlap/redundancy of personnel between Lake Forest ASIC and the (acquired) Longmount ASIC team (not to worry, there's plenty of work to go around), but more seriously, a loss of focus by both sides. The 'training exercise' was rendered pretty much redundant (tossed aside in favor of Longmount's imported material), though thankfully the trained skill-set is directly re-usable on the imported database. Things will settle down as everyone finds their role in the big machine.

location - Lake Forest, in the middle of nowhere...(10 minutes from 5 freeway.)

Advice to Senior Management

Excessive red-tape to getting things done. Requesting equipment, or knowledge transfers between internal groups takes way too long, and too much micromanagement (on the part of the requester.) 7+ months to approve and order several Linux servers?!? Why?!?

Work balance is a little off -- the entry-levels had too little work (at times), and some of the seniors/principals too much! A good manager/principal knows how to *delegate* responsibility and assignments to others, and follow-up.

These really needs to be addressed, otherwise I fear the stress-level will increase (between the underutilized and the overworked.) Most everybody there is itching to prove their worth, and just need the proper environment to support that.

Pros

Fair working environment and good team works.
These days WD is doing pretty well on business even the financial crisis. Refer the last QT revenue announce for the information.

Cons

Not competitive compensation and benefit. WD is doing well on cost down operation. This might be one of the reason its compensation and benefit is not competitive comparing other company.

Advice to Senior Management

Very generous and countable.

Pros

The technical knowledge to gain from working in the HDD industry is high. Working relationships within WD are mostly open and friendly,

Cons

Most senior engineering opportunities get filled through external recruiting instead of internal promotions. This can be frustrating for long time employees who do not get rewarded for their performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Executive management has been massively recruiting for the past year at the expense of the company's profits.