As a Broadcom employee that is used to the lean business focused culture here, I'm curious what exactly are so many people worried about losing in VMware. After reading some posts and comments around here I am still not clear what the culture is really like in VMware. How do you guys see it from the inside?
24 replies (most recent on top)
Broadcom doesn’t fu-k around hiring interns or grads they mean business lol
I loved my team, my boss, my work, the work-life balance, and how people were caring and human towards each other. I cherished the positivity and humor that accompanied our task-solving. I always thought VMware would be my last company before retirement, but no, I'll be moving on to another company next month, venturing into the unknown.
Every team is different. I worked in 3 teams over 9 years. Overall, best company I ever worked for and I've worked for a few.
I will reply for my experience which is a BU that was absorbed from Pivotal. My colleagues are outstanding people, kind, bright, and always willing to help or hop in to help problem solve. Our culture was largely about kindness, and this was carried over to VMW. I've found that since that acquisition we've migrated from a start-up mentality to a large moving machine mentality where the perks were diminished after Covid, and everyone mostly works from home (we were in the office 90% of the time previously, and willingly because we liked each other so much). As many have already outlined VMW still offered generous benefits like wellbeing allowance and extra mental health time off (EPIC2 days) which were largely implemented by our previous leadership (Pat G.). I don't have any complaints other than most of my colleagues have since moved on since the Pivotal acquisition and those who remain are still kind and work hard. I can't comment for other BUs.
There is likely no single VMW culture. It's a combination of loosely coupled BUs.
I'm in the EUC BU, and I'd describe our culture as consistently inept leadership, mixed with unsubstantiated delusions of product superiority. Pleasant unmotivated people, inclined to stay for decades (with no apparent reason given for employment longevity).
"$20 says you are a white, likely American male, that is over 40."
Your profile is not even close. I'm an over 50 American evangelical Christian Republican with numerous g-ns, I have some hidden g-y tendencies, and all my children are addicted to opi--ds. But what does any of that have to do with my comments here?
VMware has never hired unqualified people and have no VPs that do no work.
It is an amazing company, so efficient, effective and everyone is the best at what they do.
$20 that your are an aśshole.
Am I right?
I’ll take my money in virtue signaling bitcoins please.
I’ve worked here almost 20 years. Probably the biggest thing for me was work/life balance… which actually used to be a real thing, not just some lip-service mantra. Now that my kids are older (the oldest is off to college next Fall) it’s less important, but when they were little it was key. That included things like floating holidays, comp time, and the like.
When VMW was smaller (I think there were under 500 employees when I started) there was also a feeling that what we were working on together was important. Maybe not “world peace” important but a technology that was transformative. I remember the first time I saw multiple heterogeneous virtualized OS running on the same system was impressive.
Of course it’s been quite a while since either of those were real.
As far as Beer Bashes, company parties, and the rest of it, I think some people liked those… the recent hokum about “EPIC2 values” has never been real
AFAICT.
Toxic. The culture in VMware was toxic and that's one of the main reasons I left the company two years ago.
For me personally, the biggest problem in VMware is the awful HR practices.
People get hired and promoted not based on merit but based on nepotism, gender, race, or age. I saw great professionals and people who really cared about their jobs being laid off or forced to leave the company or the team they were working with. I saw really talented people being rejected "because we must have women / black people / elderly people / long-time unemployed people / ho-------l people in our team". I saw utterly incompetent people being hired and later promoted to senior and managerial positions although they did not have the skills or knowledge for even a junior position - but they fell under one of the categories listed above.
Don't get me wrong - I don't care if someone is black or white, male or female, straight or g-y, old or young. I only care if this person is capable of performing her/his duties as expected. When you start hiring people not based on merit, knowledge, and skills but based on other criteria that are irrelevant to the actual job, that's a true sign that the company is going down. That's what happened to VMware.
OP here. Thanks guys for the input! This is what I gather so far:
- VMware is kind of woke, heavy on DEI and generous with comforts: extra days off, leaves, WFH, etc
- This makes a lot of people comfortable, happy and feel a sense of community
- This also makes a lot of people angry, as performance, skills and experience can take a back seat to other criteria
- Management quality is hit and miss, teams can be siloed
- There are many passionate, skilled people looking to add value
Did I capture it right?
I think a lot of people will find Broadcom a great employer, once the dust settles from what is unavoidably a rough transition. It doesn't give much in terms of comforts, but it's fair, completive, focused and pays great. We have donation programs where Broadcom will double whatever you donate to recognized charities. Plenty of people are WFH employees, it's absolutely no problem. It's just that if you're an office based employee (in your contract) you need to go to the office... If your contract is remote, you stay remote. Incompetence and low performance leads quickly to dismissal (under 12 months). High performance is LAVISHLY rewarded (I know first hand). Everyone is very open to talk and collaborate, corporate resources included, up to VPs!
Broadcom is an acquired taste, not for everyone. Hope everyone finds their path to their own individual success, with Broadcom or elsewhere!
VMware focuses on providing training and opportunities for those who want to advance in their career or simply cannot afford to get a further degree. People are free to shadow, learn from, and move to a department. Most of the people are peaceful and willing to lend a hand. I see all of these going to go away soon.
People who have no interest in attending an office shouldn’t be concerned with Broadcom’s “culture”.
What kind of culture is any company going to have if you’re working from your laptop under a blanket with Netflix streaming all day?
It’s ridiculous
Elon did this and the A players left. I'm guessing BC maybe looking for the B team? There are jobs out there, recruiters and managers at other companies know who they are. They have been waiting for this to happen. Good luck everyone!
I like the part of VMware culture where it is impossible to get fired for incompetence.
Yeah the 14 days off are not bad too. You can take them or in some countries you can save some of your days off and they will be paid. 14 days is almost like a month wage.
Work from home is HUGE. For those of us who work in the Partner Organization where we support organizations all over the country (in many cases the globe) this did not start with the pandemic. Many of us have operated like this for over a decade. Being told I'd have to risk my life two hours per day, five days per week, driving in Northeast traffic and weather in order to attend Zoom meetings from an office full of people with whom I share nothing but an employer name and basic geography is a deal ki-ler for me. If Hock doesn't feel powerful unless he's forcing employees to humble themselves and accept illogical behavior to display fealty, good luck retaining and attracting real talent in the current job market.
Our leadership constantly reminded us how valuable VMW culture was. $61b to be precise.
Well I mean full WFH for almost all of us, something like 14 days off (EPIC + take a break) on top of legal holidays. For R&D bonus always paid 100% or above (except for very big issues with managements) with not so much efforts. Noone really bothering you much on deadlines. You can take illnes when you are ill without anyone blaming you for this ecc... ecc... Then ok there are some issues too as well like everyplace but in general is a very nice environment comparing to many others.
VMware culture was to in engage in lots of touchy/feeley activites and virtue signaling while ignoring the underlying operational issues that were dragging the company down.
Let’s not forget the culture of hiring college grads who are clueless and bog down senior employees having to constantly spend cycles training and answer their daily questions because they don’t get it. All while paying them the salary that all of us senior employees had to work years to get with all our experiences under our belt.
Or the BU heavy focus that left the company disjointed and disconnected. Each BU operating is if their product is the only company product. Thousands of skus, loads of packages, churn and burn on new packages, products and etc that made it impossible to know how to sell, quote and sometime keep up with technically. They never ask nor listen to feedback, they already know better.
The constant slap in the face that is DEI. It’s like that is how the employees got paid, pushing DEI. It was over the top!
Or bad employees getting promoted and shuffled around instead of managed out!
My group was pretty good, and I have enjoyed it for a while now but the company is broken and had been for a while. My hope is BCom can help put the focus back where it need to be and get rid of all our bloat and misdirections.
Overall there was a feeling that we liked and cared for each other and the common goal. That we celebrated diversity, giving back, and knowing we were contributing to a better world. That you could take chances, fail and it’s not one quarter and you’re done. After Pat departed and the divestures / acquisition started, things changed.
Execution - we responded to a lot of changes and challenges quickly over the last 8 years
Passion - People cared about the work. Being there for workers in times of strife made them work more for their customers and colleagues
Integrity - people truly were encouraged to collaborate, share, and commit to doing the right thing despite the pressure to cut corners
Customers - I saw people cut their bonuses, commissions, etc in the name of doing right by the customer. CTABs, VMUGs, etc.
Community - Pods, learning forums, lectures from world leaders, Service learning, and yes snacks
Here are a few small examples:
In the past year, we were each given over $1000 to donate via Bright Funds. I donated much of mine to local organizations that I support. This may not seem like a big deal, but it certainly gave me a palpable sense of fulfillment, and I believe it makes an impact when you consider this happened across the entire organization.
Another small example is a $1000 annual wellbeing allowance, which can be used for anything really but is intended to be used to support four pillars of employee health.
A third example is a generous helping of EPIC2 days off.
In these small ways and many more, at VMware we are constantly reminded to care for ourselves and our communities—a culture that I think all started with virtualization itself.
Lazy, clique-y, entitled, very well-paid with lots of perks…
So you can see why people hate to lose their cushy existence and paycheck…