CA folks - do you have any advice for those of us at Symantec? In case the Broadcom acquisition goes through? Should we ride it out or should we start looking for a new job right away?
I skimmed through posts here and I have a bad feeling that the second option will be the one that gets mentioned more.
Something like 55 months of salary
cool, how much did u get?
I was in support, I have been fired with no explanation at all but i got so much money... I'm thinking to retire
Customer Support here, really hope the deal is going through and I would absolutely voluntarily leave with a nice cheque.
Former CAs employees: Were you all given an opportunity to voluntarily leave or was each department given an amount of voluntary leave ? What about customer support depts?
Thanks!
Depending how the deal is structured. Symantec stock may accelerate if you are day 1 term. For some with lots of stock and tenure (ca had 2 weeks pay for each year of service) this can be a nice pay day. Getting yourself on the term list can be tricky. My BU had more volunteers than they wanted to cut. #awkward. Broadcom will cut about half the company. They did to brocade, ca. I’m sure Symantec will be no different
It depends on where you work in Symantec. If you are in a non-technical role, run! For Sales the life is tough and most of the Sales people in Emea legged it immediately.
Broadcom does not do benefits. They don't have a company culture. They are , and I quote, "in the busness of making money". Everything and anything comes second to that. They have no allegiance to a specific office location, business unit and will not take on any other companies culture or values. You have the choice to join them or leave.
They will increase your base pay, they will give you a fixed bonus depending on your job title (from 5% to 20%) plus a multi-year RSR grant that depends on your job title.
The will treat you like a number, and all people I know that stayed treat this as a job but not as a career.
There is no innovation, there is no progression. You do what you do until they no longer need you. There is no lateral career movement and that means if your business unit (CA was cut into two units, Enterprise Software and Mainframe) does not make the money they expect you will be cut or sold along with the business. They would not move you to a similar position in another unit no matter how brilliant you are.
At CA, even before the final agreement was announced, you swiftly saw the innovators and high profile managers, software architects and Sales people move and take positions at other companies.
Managment will be cut to the bone and managers are constantly overloaded. Which means little oversight but also little help if things go southways. The HR department is appaling and has little knowledge of local laws and requirements, which caused them to have to pay more redundancies than they originally expected.
So in conclusion, of you are in it for the money alone, or only have a few years left until retirement, I would stay. Otherwise I would leave because I cannot see anyone have a longlasting fruitful career there that keeps up with the latest technologies.
It depends what you want
1) A smooth ride and not comfortable with change -- seek elsewhere
2) $$$ Either the severance
I am the poster of the previous comment - I should also mention that I have over 10 years in with CA at this point and Broadcom honors your original start date (or they said so for the CA acquisition anyway). So I'm not leaving until they pay me to leave.
I'm in support. I stayed. So far I am loving it.
Broadcom isn't for everyone. If you want a "cool" work culture, with ping pong tables, beer in the breakroom, and that sort of thing, it's not for you. Working at Broadcom isn't fun. It's just a job. But they pay well. In the last year I made 30k/yr more from Broadcom than I made at CA from stock alone. Next year I'll make 20k more than that. You go in, sit in the middle of your giant soulless cube farm and plunk away at your job, and you'll collect a nice paycheck.
If you're in Sales, though, get out now. That's where the deepest cuts will be, as they were with CA. Broadcom has a sales force already. Same goes for HR, legal, and Vice President of Anything.
Support will receive deep cuts and over time more and more will get outsourced but if you make it through the m---acre of spending cuts, you can do pretty well for yourself here.
Here is how it will go.. 90% elimination or outsourcing of Support, facilities, procurement, IT, Finance, Sales ( yes sales and presales), account mgmt. All shiny new / future products, consumer products will be shut off or divested to other PEs. Overall they will look for a billion and half in savings over 12 months.. without that their model doesn't work.
Analyst Opinion : Piper Jaffray analysts estimated that under Broadcom's watch, Symantec could have operating margins of more than 60%, up from an operating margin of about 13%, excluding restructuring costs, in Symantec's fiscal year ended in March. With those margins and an estimated $1 billion in cost costs, Piper Jaffray reckons Symantec can add nearly $1.8 billion to Broadcom’s annual net income.
my honest Advice:
if i could turn back time i would do everything to get on the termination list and receive that sweet package. Def use the time to look for something else, just in case!
You should always be looking for something better. BC is very thin and runs efficient. If you make them money then you are probably safe. If you in HR or legal, you probably not safe. Think from a logical perspective and not emotion.
Exactly, wait for your severance, then rin away
My mates and I really hope we can get a check out it as soon as possible.
Also you need to look in what department are in. BC is interesting only in core development everything else will be either closed or divested. But as mentioned below BC is trying to paid everything, but they are not good in how it is handled. Process is first shoot then ask questions.
I made it through to Broadcom. Stick it out, but plan ahead. I can’t speak on your situation but Broadcom honored CA’s severance. The cuts were deep, but they did pay those that were cut and put on transition. Worst thing is they Term you day one and you get your severance. Do what you can to make connections and line up interviews but stick it out. If you are in Management, definitely be looking. Most mid level management didn’t make it through.
The hardest part for me was knowing we were getting bought and we would all know out dates on this specific day. That was nerve racking. Good luck!