I worked for both companies. I left CHK just as they were putting up cameras EVERYWHERE and counting keystrokes on your PC, and logging every website you visited. It really turned "big brother". Shortly after, Aubrey McClendon, the founder and CEO of CHK was being indicted and very sadly committed su----e. He was a complicated man. Egotistical to the max, yet caring and helped OK and helped lobby for NG as the transition fuel for America. SWN was great when they were in Greenspoint. It was a very family oriented style of mgmt. It was a really great time. Then they moved to the new I-45 locale and the climate of the entire company changed and upper mgmt became pompous and snobby to the underling professionals that made the company humm. Upper mgmt oppressed lower managers, then those managers oppressed the team leads, and everyone oppressed the professionals that were getting the real work done. It turned into a top-down blaming for anything bad. Now with redundant positions in CHK and SWN with layoffs looming, I really can't see it being a fulfilling place to work. Who knows, I could be wrong and I hope I am. I worked with some very fine professionals at both places, but unfortunately they were the ones on the chopping block. Corporate failure at its finest. However, SWN's going away package was nicely generous. So they get kudos for that.
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Aubrey was an alleged thief. He didn't anybody to outsmart him, that was the deal with the big brother approach, nothing personal, just business. Same story with Billy (The One That Still Thinks Is a kid), placing screen and keystroke loggers everywhere. I still remember this Vote For Pedro look alike/discount version IT guy, sweating a good one, covering for the fact, saying it was a video card issue, and then bringing a monster of a computer or another laptop. This company really needs to go away. Is nothing but a big waste of time, and others people money, only to support a mildly entertaining soap opera where everybody plays cloak and dagger, or hide the pickle, depending how they identify themselves. Quite a cesspool of ignorance, if you ask me.
Your review is interesting but flawed. The culture at SWN changed dramatically when Jen was hired to lead HR. Then she was able to navigate the Board and Steve into hiring her best friend Bill which in turn made it extremely political. After that it became a jealous, political organization.