I feel stuck in this company, too young to retire, but too old to easily find another job. I don’t see any future here, it can only get worse than it is now and I would leave immediately if I could. However, I've tried to find similar job in other companies, but I get the impression that I am no longer marketable. Terrible feeling.
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Riverbed was on the right path when it acquired Zeus. There was something there beyond LB’ing, which has now turned into ingress controllers and (to some degree) service meshes. Riverbed also missed an opportunity to build our own SIEM-like, time-series based, and super-scalable data analytics solution before the founders left and started Jut - could’ve been the Snowflake of machine and infra data. Too bad that greed, ego, and the desire to be a $1B company out weighed common sense and patience because Riverbed couldn’t been a huge player today.
Unfortunately, the company missed the market (missed a couple of markets, actually) and stayed dependent on their bread & butter legacy products for way too long. When that started to dry up they had nothing to fall back on. Most of the biggest offenders collected their big paychecks for sticking with the same products while they could and moved on.
For the previous poster:
You left but you still stalk the company layoff page on a weekend? You have some real attachment issues. Are you sure you don’t miss it?
Best decision I ever made was to leave this place. Don't be miserable working- it's a large part of your time on Earth!
In any company that you work for... it is important to leave the place on a good note (not to burn any bridges). Should you end up being jobless and desperate, the relationships that you build with ex-coworkers will come in handy. I was laid off back in 2017 and I tried to look for another job on my own but I found it very difficult because of my age and also the job market situation in my country. Until I met with an ex-coworker and he helped me and I managed to get another job exactly a year later.
Any company that’s on the verge of sh setting will have a mental toll. It’s this mental block that, I believe, is what’s preventing many from moving on. Also, the fact Riverbed is operates in a tiresome and stagnant manner also impacts the way “you are”. Between the two, your interviews will suffer from the recruiter sensing a lack of enthusiasm and positivity and there’s enough of that everywhere. Most modern/tech companies understand people can learn anything when needed but what can’t be learned is attitude. I know many of us weren’t like this when we started and all I can say to anyone is to find your “old self” again and understand that what is “new tech” is recycled old tech. Your experience will go far and your ability to learn new things will actually be easy, just have to sit down and study (if you’re in tech).
If you’re in sales at riverbed, expect a lot of inspection, accuracy, details, and well thought out or (well) written plans with quotas structures that are completely different than what you’re used to. Sales leaders are extremely shrewd, technically sound, and has the experience to back anything up so BS’ing or arse kissing will not go far.
In the end, if you prefer to work in the manner that is “Riverbed” then I’d highly suggest working for similar companies born in the same era. If you’re looking to join a modern company, it’ll take effort to turn yourself around.
I worked here until about three years ago. I’m in my late 50s. Still marketable and I went to a much better company that pays more and isn’t so demoralizing. A lot of techies are aging and there are a lot of companies that hire older people. You can get it if you really want, to quote Jimmy Cliff.