I'm interviewing with F5 for a network support engineer role.. After seeing all the comments here, I'm running it this is a good time to join F5. Any comments/advices please?
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It is reasonably safe. I remember better times, of course, but having interviewed at other places I still think F5 is a better place than the most. You’ll hear complaints mainly from people who used to do little for a lot of money and this is gradually going away. Tough s..t. If you know your game and you are willing to learn, you will succeed. And if you are smart, you will deliver good results with reasonable effort. F5 is like any other corporation in this regard.
I say apply and keep your skills sharp for when you want to find a better jobs somewhere else.
Then, in the span of about 2 years around 2017-2019, the entire executive and VP leadership switched over to a bunch of outsiders and consultants. They laid off a bunch of really experienced people and started outsourcing to India. They made a bunch of bad acquisitions and started a bunch of really stupid projects and failed initiatives.
This succinct description of F5's devolution couldn't be more accurate. FLD took a tech company with sustainable competitive advantages and explicitly threw most of them away.
Related question: what was the last successful acquisition?
There actually aren't that many layoffs, or at least no more than any other tech company right now. It seems like F5 has laid off 2-5% of the company every year or so, but so has just about every other major tech company over the last 4 years. Just look around. It's "industry standard" right now. Go look at any other major company's "thelayoff" page.
A lot of the griping going on here has more to do with a handful of people who have been at F5 for 8+ years and so can still remember "the good ol days" before FLD and the current executive leaders. Basically F5 used to be this really top tier tech company. We were in the 10 best tech companies to work for a few years back in the early 2010s, alongside the likes of Google. High competence, high autonomy culture. Then, in the span of about 2 years around 2017-2019, the entire executive and VP leadership switched over to a bunch of outsiders and consultants. They laid off a bunch of really experienced people and started outsourcing to India. They made a bunch of bad acquisitions and started a bunch of really stupid projects and failed initiatives.
However, from a job security standpoint, I don't feel F5 is any worse than any other tech company. And a bunch of former colleagues who left for Oracle or Amazon or Microsoft or Intel say it's just as sty over there, or worse. Old timers here are just mad F5 isn't cool anymore. The same thing is happening to Google. Capitalism is a b*.
Director here. Yes, NSE org is safe.
Are you in Mexico? I didn't think we were hiring US based NSE at the moment, but maybe to replace one who left. You should be safe for a while as long as you can learn the material quickly.
Huh?????
Edit: I'm thinking If this is a good time...