you've made it and you're scared. here's a hug (x), don't be afraid, we won't bite. the majority of us are still HW or FW or test engineers from the legacy businesses : Agere, LSI, BC classic, Agilent, Brocade. you will find that BC is at it's core, still a hardware, semiconductor company. this pure SW play, indeed is new to most of US. we didn't understand CA or Symantec acquisitions either at leastt not initially. they got a bit of the stink eye when they joined. we don't take as many chances as we would've liked to fresh out of college but we somehow built a company that is top #3 in the fields it operates: fiber, cable, rf, video, dsl, wifi, bluetooth, cable, ethernet, switching, industrial or asics. we squeeze our customers on pricing, but what's wrong with that? hock has a mantra : make your product so desirable, it sells like co----e. make your customer dependent of it. apple, google, samsung, fb, dell and so many others are totally addicted to the stuff we build. not because it's legacy rusty old stuff but because it's bleeding edge, it defines their success. look at a teardown of a smartphone, switch, router, server, modem and see how many of the components are made by BC and run BC software. a lot. we built raspberry pi. 99% of all internet packets touch BC HW from their source to their destination. that's something to be proud of. if anything, it's the new part of the business, the CA stuff that's "legacy", but it's well entrenched and critical to our enterprise customers. now to the future : if you're an IC and make it past the first year, i assure you, you'll find BC to be a place in which you can do the same stuff you did before, but with less restrictions and more personal resp.. who doesn't like slim to non-existent middle management? sure you'll miss your donuts, your PODs, your company crochet club buddies, your beer or two at your home desk, your not having to commute, but you can continue to be an top notch engineer and make a difference. you'll become more efficient, less entitled, you'll stop expecting bells and whistles from your workplace. you'll still have friends, buddies at work, you'll meet new, interesting people. if anything, you'll find your workload lighten after some time. you'll still go to the gym and maybe have a drink after work with your colleagues. there won't be an official corporate x-mas party but your sr. dir. will have one at his place. you'll still be able to play foosball in the corridor or go out and shoot hoops during lunch.
it's not as dark as some may have you believe and you'd be making a huge mistake by leaving before 1 year, IMO.
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IDK… I thought Hock’s meeting was clear and decisive. He didn’t mince words and he made it clear what he expects. You don’t have to agree with all of it, but you should respect the transparency of it all. It’s more than we’ve gotten from our leadership in the last 18 months.
My only complaint is that we got rid of some awesome people, yet we retained a sh-t-ton of garbage people. Believe it or not, there are a lot of hard workers at VMware. There are also a lot of blow-hard, know it all a--hole jerks here, that truly do not know it all. I’m sad that some of the latter made the cut.
The two sides already hate each other. This is going to be interesting.
You do you. Stay if you like it, go if you don’t. Personally, I loved vmware with all its programs as it shows it cares about people and the environment.
People tend to hear what they want from the town hall. I heard a lot of cr-p that I did not wanna hear and was offended by some of them. That’s just me.
We don’t have to convince each other which side is better.
"If you want to disparage VMware engineering, try some other metric that's harder to verify next time."
I dont have to. VMware is Broadcom now, not the other way around, and that says it all.
Point being, we don't want entitled people on board, we have a large number of talented employees with a great pedigree that don't shout that they are/were "enginner at X" on every single corner, they come in and put in the hours to get this company to where it is now.
That's a lovely list. It would be terrible if VMware turns out to be the rancid acquisition that topples the entire flea market.
when my ex-FAANG colleagues are reading some of the absolutely ludicrous and entitled comments on this forum coming from VMware engineers.
Is this how Broadcomers inflate their ego? By counting how many ex-FAANG employees they got?
OK, let's go along with your metrics.
LinkedIn says
- Current Broadcom employee headcount from FAANG: 131
- Current VMware employee headcount from FAANG: 804
Well, I guess you guys are a lot worse according to your own metric... If you want to disparage VMware engineering, try some other metric that's harder to verify next time.
I can imagine what it's like working in such a company. It's reminiscent of where I worked over 20 years ago - an SME based in an Asian country. Maybe for Broadcom, the difference is the inflated compensation package, but with minimal benefits and a low-budget, no-frills workplace, to me it's about the same. I was young then and never thought much about it in the past, but as I became older, I truly appreciate workplaces that value other aspects, not just quick money. That's why I jumped ship on my own accord just before the acquisition closed.
"But please do not pretend to know what VMware or what people from VMware are about"
Oh but we do friendo, I spent many years in VMware, so did many of my Broadcom colleagues. We know exactly what you are and what the culture is in VMware. We are not trying to convince you stay, feel free to leave. More pie for us.
In fact, contrary to a public opinion, 90% of people in Broadcom that I know come from Tier 1,2 IT companies, where VMware barely makes top 10 on this list; it's laughable when my ex-FAANG colleagues are reading some of the absolutely ludicrous and entitled comments on this forum coming from VMware engineers.
OP, great post, and spot on. If you want to work for a great company where you are given creative freedom, compensated above market rates, and part of expanding org that is now top 15 company in the world and larger than Cisco or IBM in market cap COMBINED welcome aboard. If WFH is more important then leave (although RTO will happen everywhere eventually except for a handful of startups). Also, many people in Broadcom WFH, it depends on your BU.
Broadcom people— I cannot tell if these constant reminders are more for you all than they are for VMware. I know it must be painful to hear others openly reject this new shared reality. But please do not pretend to know what VMware or what people from VMware are about.
There is no point disparaging anyone at this point. Convincing people to reevaluate their values is a cheap attempt at taking away peoples dignity
Why would VMware people be scared of BC? That’s a big assumption. Maybe they don’t want to work there, but that is personal preference.
VMWare was not a troubled company like CA and Symantec. Didn’t ceo of CA go to jail? Those companies were in big trouble.
VMWare wasn’t in big trouble and many of the staff are highly capable and not desperate. Not afraid, maybe just not turned on by the BC style?
Some young lady literally asked about donuts, some other lady asked about Employee PODs, whatevs that is.
So Broadcomers are so one dimensional in thinking that 'some young lady' and some other lady' asking d-mb questions represent VMware engineers in general.
It's a big company with sprawling groups of people because diverse culture is what our executives promoted. You can choose not to like it; in fact, many engineers here don't like it either.
But I am not sure what that has to do with the fact that our engineers aren't what you are making them out to be.
@OP+1pPtxvW6 Thanks for sharing your perspective. You talked about ICs. What about middle management (Sr Mgr, Dir and St Dir) who got offers? What do you expect to happen to them and how soon?
"I don't get it. What gave you an impression that VMware engineers are afraid?"
Really? Look at a rerun of the HT's coffee talk. Look at those panning shots in the room. Sick puppies. Rained-on sick puppies.
"Most engineering leads don't care about DEI, donuts, etc. that you guys seem to be imagining we care about"
Some young lady literally asked about donuts, some other lady asked about Employee PODs, whatevs that is.
I don't get it. What gave you an impression that VMware engineers are afraid?
Let me lay this out for all you Broadcomers:
- Senior engineers leads here aren't like the ones that you bought with CA and Symantec acquisitions. I don't mean in terms of technical chops or anything like that. I mean with respect to FU money most of us have already made at VMware and other companies.
-
Most engineering leads don't care about DEI, donuts, etc. that you guys seem to be imagining we care about. Many of my friends here do absolutely care about a couple of things
a. WFH / work arrangement flexibility
b. Risk taking in the form of new product initiatives/tech
Just as you guys have been saying, it's real simple. Just going to go work somewhere else so we can have these things and get paid.
Not sure why you guys are even trying to convince us of anything. Your description matches exactly what Hock said this afternoon. And no, it ain't going to work for many of us.
It doesn't mean that we want Broadcom to change in some way. You keep doing you. That's none of our business really now that Broadcom owns VMware.
Amen
Very glad I’m able to retire with a severance package. All of the above sounds absolutely unpleasant to me. Best of luck to those of you heading to AVGO.
It is today’s coffee talk summary.
Symantec here, and absolutely agree to all.
first BC post that feels real/raw and valuable. though still not supportive of the in office thing ;)
I am scared but I will always try to give my best hopefully they give me a chance to
Good post. I'm just here to troll but this sums up BRCM perfectly.