Q3 is looking bad. More people to be let go soon.
Overheard at HQ that all Europe and Australia offices to be closed by end of 2020 apart from small sales locations.
50 replies (most recent on top)
mate, it’s not a lie if you believe it
It’s definitely a clown car in executive management at riverbed for sure
If you’re still in your 30s (or younger), get you need and move the F on from this circus.
Some real personal shots being taken here and then quickly deleted. Looks like someone isn't taking their layoff well. Time to move on, friend. Life's too short.
There’s no need to argue or being out any dirty laundry. Bottom line is leadership and AGI did a piss poor job with the reorg and RIFs and it’s bringing out a lot of negativity. Execs abusing our finances or what not, it should not turn us into bad people. bad leadership and poor planning and execution has resulted in all of this in-fighting.
If you’re not an exec then I’d say forgive and forget because it isn’t any of our faults.
A story is not always a lie," old mate said
"Some stories are truer than truth."
Truer than truth? That sounded like something liars made up to tell people who found them out.
Cue the Benny Hill music
Wowsa. Someone has their panties in a knot.
I need to find me a manager with shady principles who can approve a few expenses, so at least I can make extra cash before getting laid off
Can you claim the $1200 annual fee for having a Platinum Amex. It’s a work expense, right?
3500 views on this thread!
Some good deals last week. If it continues we will be able to save face this Q. Someone said it right below; no point resisting the inevitable. I am personally feeling torn between leaving early and losing severance pay vs riding it out. If not this qtr it will be next qtr. it’s not like wanopt or SC or SF is awaiting a resurgence. Matter of time
‘Mornington Peninsula’, Ho Hum
what a joke. Time you go!
"Company is being split into America's (sic), Federal and 'Rest of World' "
Not likely. Any split is likely to be along product lines.
Company is being split into America's, Federal and 'Rest of World' sections. If you're not in the USA or India, your job is at risk
Same scheme was used by the NRA to pad the exec compensation. Though salary is low, you are granted some allowances. Going private helps too.
"Who will be granted a role(s) at SYMC?"
From Riverbed? Uh, no one. They're looking to shed the abundant dead wood they already have.
In the states, I heard our old CEO JK had two day executive meetings with just 4 execs costing over $30k US dollars! The kicker was, no receipt !!
Who will be granted a role(s) at SYMC?
Who should we let go? Which areas are we most incompetent?
I have never work in a company that has so many VPs and directors who are either hired or promoted for doing the same lower level jobs in other company. These are not just fanciful job titles but a fat pay cheque that comes along with the titles. Quarterly QBR at luxurious hotel with all the VPs flying into one location with lavish dinners and drinks (at expensive location just recently with a fantastic city view) have become the norm even when the company is not doing well. Company now dangling customer success as the next evolution and miracle pill as part of the transformation. But what all these ‘mentally challenged’ individual does is stealing credits from the good works that others have done, and basically using authority to justify all the unreasonable demands by saying yes to please the customers at the expense of the company. People on the ground who seen these behavior are not blind and easily able to see through all these lies. Senior management are totally disillusioned and disconnected with folks on the ground as they don’t give a damn leading to the fall of a once great company. Rest In peace as you will always be remembered by many of the real unsung heroes who will witness your fall during the dooms day which is coming soon.
Some of these recent sales promotions have such bogus titles!! The latest one is just lame. (Keeping it anonymous so this shouldn’t get nuked)
Q3 looking bad
Wow, all the posts related to bogus promotions were all deleted. This just goes to show how riverbed and old crony management works - censor to protect them from their deficiencies being discovered - this is how the elites succeed - they cheat, lie and simply censor information and people.
This is just so lame and seems a bit of a violation of our rights. I don’t think anyone crossed any line in these posts - kept things anonymous.
I have been in the company for more than 7+ years and have seen most of the behaviors mentioned. Riverbed has been one of the best company I have ever worked for until 3 years ago where we start to see good people leaving with ‘useless’ new top management taking over the region and department. Unscruptuous spendings on unnecessary travel and drinks. Promoting the incompetent managers to senior role because of their outstanding LAAS (Lips as a Service) and superb ‘acting’ skills in managing upwards with a comment that ‘we need 20 of such person’. Completely ignoring all the teamwork and actual real work done by the engineers in managing the technical issues, customer escalations and candid feedback from customers and blaming issues in the account team for anything that went wrong. Top management chose to believe and listen to what they want to hear about all the faked heroic stories. Truly a sad place to stay now.
not my post but see below, googled (why are posts nuked on thelayoff.com) and lifted from thelayoff.com/t/XqwjDwK
On deletions, someone posted this a couple of days ago, source below:
I've been on this site since 2015 (first with Verizon and now with GM) so hear me out:
- mods/admins exist, they are silent tho
- they delete messages, sometimes in bulk (eg all threads or all messages you ever posted by you or someone else may be nuked)
- they block ip addresses, some vpns will not work as they are already blocked
- some words are blocked and trigger reviews, try to enter xes in reverse and they'll review you
- here are things that will trigger a review,purge or block: swearing, use of names, politics, attacking other people
- got blocked once, never heard back from them and had to switch ip
- if someone is crossing the line you can report it on the contact page
- dont post in weird threads, they may bulk block you (if you do, use vpn)
- they really cannot stop you posting, use a vpn and you are ok - if you are using a vpn, dont use bing ones like nordVPN as they have them blocked - pick a smaller providedr
- try to avoid any discussion about race or identity groups, they dont f around with that - that's like an instant ban and all your older messages get deleted
i am sure there is more stuff that i am forgetting but this is it in the nutshell...
Source thelayoff.com/t/XqwjDwK or Post ID: @XqwjDwK-ndo
a day ago by Anonymous - 14 reactions (+14/-0)
3 months ago by Anonymous - no reactions
Post ID: @XsSr7KD-1Wqio
why the f— are posts being nuked from this thread?
anyone can learn anything new or different and it’s well understood that this is a good thing. The big question becomes your experience and relevance, since there isn’t a shortage of other talented people in the world, who has the right experience and are relevant, where does this leave you? Answer is, junior level job and getting a pay cut to work at a company you don’t really want to work for. Seen this too many times and all I say is do learn but be aware the reasons for all of this stems from id–tic leaders.
I said - Go learn something new. I am an individual contributor. My only honest intention was to encourage you to up-tool yourself, so that you can find another gig. It is exactly what I am trying to do.
The general angst is the fact our leaders just screwed everything up. Their refusal to admit it is expected however, what they fail to realize are the unseen affects of THEIR stupidity. To make it simple, the name Riverbed is basically trash and therefore those associated with Rivered must also be the same - They tarnish the engineerings reputation by stating things like a product is commodity or downsizing engineering resulting in negative posts about engineering quality - all this recruiters will READ. Therefore, as an engineer, I must not be a proper candidate.
SO what do those, without any skills, say? “LEARN SOMETHING ELSE” — those who says this are usually the useless VP’s and directors that have built their careers on basic org charting and simple “process” driven management - along with a lot of damn meetings micromanaging and extraction every bit of information to allow them to “learn” (and live vicariously through) their direct reports. These people are your deprecated leaders and probably the majority of sales - I mean, what new groundbreaking topics has their been since the 50’s? Answer - none, just a bunch of re-labeled garbage pretending to be new and people wonder why Nobel prize laureate were never in sales or marketing.
So whenever non- productive people tell others to learn something new, take a long stare in the mirror and ask yourself, what is your value? I’m sure the only thing you’ll come up with us (from office space) “I’m a people person”
Go F off to whoever said learn something new, likes it’s easy.
So, who won the SKO Porsche?
“ The company has to use fake titles to keep people”, and the people that flaunt it or ask for titles are the biggest losers. Avoid them like plague, in this company and later in life. There are lot of unethical people here, looting the company’s money. Engineers make needless trips to India to visit their own family, and others make needless trips to shows, eat and drink the best alcohol. Worst is that they come back and brag about it. I am going to print out the names too. I would not wish them on anybody.
The company has to shrink there is no doubt about it. On the SH, SCON, Versa, SF side, the engineering Strength should not be more than 250 ppl total with 150 in India. HW programs should be stopped right away. Use standard servers or run on off the shelf hardware, without any customization. Have the hw vendor create any special SKUs. Then add 150 for SCentral, rest 500 sales. Keep 10% overhead for operations/Pgm/finance/mktg. Everybody else must leave.
At the end if good people are left, the company will survive. if not, it will die. Sorry to say but if you are generally feeling negative about the company - you should proactively find a job and leave too. No point coming in and complaining about the company and wasting your office hour and others’.
Yes the leaders s— big time, but do the best you can. Don’t come up with sh–ty ideas and work on them. Try to honestly learn if those things will sell!. If you honestly try, someone will notice and recommend your elsewhere. Learn something useful while you are here, stay positive.
Regarding the titles discussion below - you have to understand the context. At riverbed, in the non-engineering and non-sales roles, Director is pretty much the lowest title. E.g. product management, program management, even for operations. Work 2 years and you become a senior director whether you know anything or your product sells Or not. It is sad because these very people fail outside later since they don’t have the knowledge or scars of learning from hard work.
Secondly, I am a individual contributor in Bay Area, have been working a long time with lots of old colleagues. While I have not grown in the ladder, my old direct managers have Grown in other companies like hpe, Cisco, dell, VMware (real VP, SVPs with 10s of people reporting to them). Once in a quarter I get contacted on LinkedIn “hey, XYZ is applying here, is he any good?” So when our director and VPs apply at HP or Aruba (in my field), I get to know. My circle gets to know. At 35+ in Bay Area or anywhere, you can only get a good job only via a recommendation.
A title has to be considered in the right context. A VP with 3 reports in RVBD is Equal to a junior first line mgr at Cisco or VMware. Both these companies have solid HR tools to weed out the non performers.
LinkedIn is a ruthless tool. Use it.
“The idea is focus on the US market”
If this is the case then why do we have British leaders? Guess the old EMEA “leaders” screwed up their patch and crossed the pond to survive. America seems to take the leftovers from Europe.
The idea is focus on the US market. End of story. Sorry to hear about Europe or Australia if it’s true. A little thin on details.
"People showing off titles are petty and shallow and insecure. When they come to me for referral I ignore them"
I can't imagine VPs, Directors etc seeking referrals from someone at a position below theirs. If they are seeking your referral, you are probably at their level or higher, no? Just asking.
I would stay FAR away from anyone still left out in Riverbed. I am printing out a list of all current VPs, Directors and Senior Directors, especially the ones who were just promoted - never will I ever refer or hire those cronies anymore. Anyone who got let go, thank your stars and seek a better life guys, almost anywhere is better than here. Get a good life.
The company has to use fake titles to keep people. Riverbed is already dead. One might as well take whatever is left.
People showing off titles are petty and shallow and insecure. When they come to me for referral I ignore them