I haven't been here long. I came to Juniper from a company where hard work meant absolutely nothing and where I worked to exhaustion but failed to be promoted or get a raise. I was hoping that the situation here is different, but according to my experience so far, here it is also quite irrelevant how dedicated you are to the job and how hard you work. I hope I'm wrong.
10 replies (most recent on top)
2 things will help you progress at JNPR. Politics and who you know.
Nothing else counts, they ki-l entrepreneurial thinking and finance dictates everything.
Jump ship
Everyone I work with works really hard, and we were just told that on our team of ten, only two will get a raise this year. Followed by a, “tough luck for you”. I mean, WTAF is that? Now everyone on the team is actively interviewing outside of Juniper. Thanks RR
My mother used to say "life is not fair". She was right. lol
IT has become the dream job for too many people. If you are in a high wage country working in IT, your wages are going to go down. Along w/ this comes corruption--basic social science. My advice is to work smart, not hard, and do it on something you love (coding?). And leave time/energy for family/self/God.
I was at JNPR for 12+ years. Saw the same political stuff I've seen everywhere (I've worked at several big IT Co's (CSCO, ANET, MSI, ...), as well as some startups. And always treat ALL people well--the people are what matter; NOT the name on the BLDG!
PS
Get a side gig.
There are good comments here. Yes, it ultimately depends on the team, manager, etc.
If you are unlucky to be on a team that isn't based on merit, then at least you are at a company that is industry leading in AI, ML, SaaS, automation, and silicon photonics. And wifi, a cutting edge technology that has everyone excited.
In any company, the impact that you have is more important than hard work. As an example, someone could work 40 hrs a week and have a bigger impact than someone else working 50 hrs a week. The reason for this is better time management skills, higher IQ, higher efficiency, etc. In addition to having a bigger impact, political savviness is also important. You should be able to communicate to upper mgmt about your impact and gain visibility. Simply working more hours does not cut it. In addition, working more hours does not mean you will get more tech-savvy. You could be spending several hours fixing silly bugs, porting bugs from one branch to another. This kind of work is prevalent in Juniper kind of companies and does little to improve your skills.
In my experience, what OP is feeling is something common in embedded companies such as Juniper, Cisco, etc. I think Cisco might be better than Juniper, but still not good enough. If you really care about your career progression, improve your skill sets and get out of Juniper. Any make sure you do not join another embedded company.
It depends on your manager. As long as you’re putting in the work, your manager should be your advocate when it comes to this.
Some managers are good employee advocates. Some managers don’t even care about your work to value what you do, only reporting status up the chain to their boss.
Don’t expect things to happen overnight, but you’ll know within 6 months what you’re dealing with. If they work to increase your visibility you may be in luck. If all you are is a name on a spreadsheet next to a project in meetings, there’s that.
I call the other comments bs. Yes hardwork is very valuable at juniper. Also the harder your work the more tech knowledge you get.
If you are not political, then harder you work, more susceptible you will be to obstructions to your career progression via politics, unless you have a great boss. I speak from experience. However, most great people I know/knew left Juniper around the 7-8 odd months period in 2017-2018 when I also left. If you are a hard worker then the lazy, incompetent political people will likely be promoted to manage you and destroy your career. Get out while you can with your professional self-respect intact. That's what i did.
All of this depends on your org, your political savvy-ness and your current level (promotion from g8 upwards are very tough).
You’ll need to share more details for a better answer.
Which company did you come from?