Actuate Reviews

Pros

The best part about Actuate is that the company is small enough to make a difference but big enough to get something done. Your manager allows you to try new things while you perform your duties. Also, everyone is willing to help you figure out the best course of action and the environment is very collegial.

Cons

The cons really can be a plus. About half the work force works off site so the office can often seem empty even when a lot of work is being done. I also work from home a fraction of the time so I probably should not list this as a con. The pressures of the marketplace also sometimes forces us to release products that are not fully baked and Actuate ends up doing many dot releases.

Pros

The investment that Actuate has made in their new open source offerings is a daring move, and one that might get them the market share they need as a second tier business intelligence software provider. This technology, along with the community of open source developers that back it, have led to some very exciting technological advances that make the products very exciting to work with. Coupling these innovative products with their battle tested server offerings provides a fairly compelling story that mixes the innovation associated with open source with the stability provided by a seasoned and time tested delivery platform.

Cons

Actuate has changed its strategy numerous times, and I think this has led to confusion throughout the organization. At times, they have focused almost exclusively on marketing several different productized "reporting applications" that primarily targeted the financial sector, which makes up the majority of Actuate's install base of customers. As that sector has suffered, so has Actuate. They have also attempted to integrate several acquisitions with varying levels of success. The Performancesoft acquisition has not been well integrated, as both the technology and the skill set needed to market and sell it are very different from Actuate's traditional core competencies.

Pros

Friendly and smart people (for the most part), beautiful workspaces at HQ. Interesting, powerful products that can do amazing things (but it can take brains and time to make that happen, making sales challenging).

Cons

Actuate products are complex, and the three product lines/lines of business were never truly integrated. So much of the business wasn't integrated either. Knowledge in one area wasn't always valuable in others. Former employees who have left recently have reported large bumps in pay at their new jobs, so salaries may not be keeping pace.

Pros

Lots of wonderful people, with great technology; they are a big part of one of the coolest Open Source BI projects out there (BIRT). Pay is competitive and sales environment is fast paced. Lots of opportunities to grow your technical skills in Business Intelligence, embedded BI, analytics, and more.

Cons

Opportunities for advancement are often limited, and there does not seem to be much real investment being made in their employees' professional growth. Enterprise reporting is a rapidly shrinking market segment, and Actuate's expansion out of that space will have to compete with many other vendors.

Pros

The products are good -- you can point to what you made and be proud. Also, there are lots of good people there. The company doesn't try to inflict an artificial culture on its people. If you are sick, they support you being out to get well. They seem to mostly keep the people they hire -- didn't seem to be much turnover.

Cons

Hard to get requirements or functional specs on product development., even when your job needs access to them -- didn't seem like they exist Embracing agile dev seemed to be just an excuse to fly by the seat of the pants... or maybe they had a plan (including specs & requirements?) and no longer felt like they needed to communicate it to other employees. Increasingly the main innovation was in China, not the U.S., which added to the communication issue. Sometimes odd politics led to surprising promotions or credit being given to the wrong people.

Pros

Good place to work if you are just starting out of college. If your prove good work, management will in trust more responsibilities to you. Relatively easy going environment, not a lot of pressure outbreaks on of projects are completed as expected.

Cons

Low pay. Management doesn’t offer much in terms of career growth and planning. Management really doesn’t seem to know what they are doing or inspire a lot of confidence in employees as far as vision and direction of the company. It feels like a place where talent gets wasted. Employees get comfortable and so the feeling of new challenges and growth disappear.

Pros

A regular paycheck. Casual attire. A job title.

Cons

If you take a job with Actuate (and, from what I understand, the following will apply to all other OpenText logos as well), do it for the right reasons. Make it a short-term move intended to improve your income and job title. Stay no longer than necessary - as soon as you are ready to advance your career, start looking for that next job again. For entry-level folks: Go for it! Just don't drink their Kool-Aid. OpenText is the WalMart of software. However, since their goal is to hire college grads only, the entry level wages aren't too bad. Get a year or two of experience in the industry and then move on.

Pros

Several nice coworkers, close to a Target, easy access to 92

Cons

This company has since been acquired by OpenText. Actuate liked to keep people temps for a very long time, often more than a year or 1.5 years. This means hourly pay (underpaid, intern rates), no direct deposit, no vacation, no health benefits. These employees have the same or sometimes more responsibilities and workload than employees with benefits. Not only is this immoral and unethical, but it is very dangerous. Before the Affordable Care Act, people without health benefits can't afford to go to the doctor. By keeping employees as temps with no benefits, Actuate shows how it doesn't care about employees' health. People can die without proper medications and treatment. There are other cons, but this is the most important to note.

Pros

It was a fun group of employees and the company had a solid product. The job was low-stress. The company had fun outings and events.

Cons

No career path for Sales Development. Very hard to transition into another role. Management team was hit or miss. Some managers in certain departments were great while others were miserable. Because a huge amount of employees sat together in the same room, it was at times a very intimidating work environment and extremely competitive.