Thread regarding Citrix Systems Inc. layoffs

It is just things turn around. Indeed, FTL folks felt the attention was going somewhere else. And it was true. A great problem with companies is when they expand without a clear direction. Expansion cost money, so you better produce to justify it. There were many factors in this clusterfuck, but a big one was expansion (including expansion in SV). Money won't grow out of a tree just because we plant it in SV. SV is great, but one needs to have a clear purpose and business plan, otherwise, it is just a money pit (and the same can be said of expansion anywhere.) This wasn't a failure of location or relocation, but a failure with management and the money pits created in the process.

Its funny you say that @Anonymous203992...because people in FTL felt that California got more attention, more resources, and more headcount.

Look at the facilities? 3 new buildings vs the leaking mold filled dungeon that is Spectrum??!?

I notice two things here in Santa Clara:

1) All hands "meetings" are broadcast from Florida at hours when most people won't be at the office, with engineers particularly likely to be absent. This was not always true, and it feels like an indication of our current (decreased) importance to the Citrix leadership team.

2) Neither Templeton nor the interim CEO spent/spend much time here. When they were/are in the Bay area, they were/are mostly in San Francisco. After all that work and $$ to create the "executive briefing center" here on the Santa Clara site. This is also new in the past 3 or so years.

It feels to me as if with regard to the 2-site headquarters thing, Florida is clearly more important than Santa Clara. It would not surprise me if they made that official - or if they instead kept the official story constant, while farther de-emphasizing Santa Clara in practice.

4/4 - Con't. Will Citrix will re-focus on Ft. Lauderdale? Maybe. It is certain. But neither it is impossible. You should not be relying on your future on this being or not being the truth. You should exploit all the opportunities available to you, regardless of where they come. And you should always be on the balls of your feet with your plan A, B and C for when the next churn happens (whether tomorrow, 4 years or 10 years from now.)

3/4 - Con't. I did the math a long time ago, and it was simply not worth moving to SV (I might as well move to Tokyo or Berlin.) The work action here in SoFla is very fragmented. Difficult to navigate if you do not plan for turn-overs. But the pickings are there for the nimble. If I ever were to move, it would be to Seattle. But, right here, right now, if you are nimble and adaptable enough, you can make a great living. The key is not to rely on being on a job forever, and to be ready to get income from multiple sources (contracting, moonlighting) every once in a blue moon. And now more than ever there are a lot of full-time or long term contracting jobs in mobile development doing remotely, so a lot of Citrix folks should be able to capitalize on that.

2/4 - Con't. There are some significant companies that have taken root down here (Prolexis, now Akamai, Ultimate, etc.) Others have moved operations here (Tales, Magic Leap.) Not to mention there is a non-trivial amount of engineering and development in medical/pharma. Citrix, for all its management failings, it managed to perform a substantial amount of work locally throughout the years. The conditions that allowed that to happen have not changed. The failures have been because of unwarranted expansion, not because the location of its HQ. Until something fundamental changes in the way of venture capital in the region, you will never see a myriad behemots like Google or Apple. And there is a reason why Amazon or MS have not moved to SV. The riches here are of a different nature.

1/4 I'm going to break my post in multiples because this website sucks with its lack of paragraph support. Until recently I thought South Florida is a technical backwater. And in many cases it is because it lacks the venture capital that exists in SV. With that said, there is a significant amount of development going on under the hoods. There are quite a few number of defense contractors, and entrepreneurs. We produce a sizable number of engineers locally (and Amazon does a round of hiring down here once or twice a year, for a reason.) The problem is that the industry is not diversified enough (the bulk of it being enterprise development.)

As a tech company, you HAVE to be in the valley. Think of every acquisition Citrix will make (because you cannot just grow from within). Guess what, the likelihood is that they're Silicon Valley based. If you want to keep those people POST acquisition, you need to STAY in the Valley. You think they'll take the relo package to Fort Lauderdale? Hell no!!

MarkT may have made a mistake saying "Strategic Headquarters" is Silicon Valley...but lets be honest, you're not going to make it with a HQ in a tech backwater like Fort Lauderdale.

Brian Madden is pretty much a guy who likes to generates headlines and comments in his blog. Makes him feel important.

On the substance of the HQ move, though: What's a headquarter anyways? It's typically the main office location where the CEO and the major executives (mostly in administrative functions like HR, Finance, Legal, Sales, Services) are located. That was always and has always been Fort Lauderdale, even though Citrix is incorporated in the great state of Delaware. MarkT wanted to be a "silicon valley CEO" so desperately that he went out and bought a house out there and had an office in the Santa Clara building. Some of the product leadership was in Santa Clara as well (but also in Fort Lauderdale, the UK, India, etc.). MarkT really pissed a lot of people off when he said during a global employee meeting a few years ago that he looks at the company in a way that the "strategic HQ" is in California, while the "administrative HQ" would stay in Florida. Shows you how the man was thinking. Many managers and directors packed up and moved to the republic of California in hopes of better job opportunities and to be at the perceived heart of the company. That trend has long stopped. Citrix is no longer relocating people to the valley and many are actually coming back to FL.

that youtube video had 500 views, we probably spent 15K on it. LOL

Brian Madden can talk, that's pretty much it

@Anonymous203427 - actually, BM is on the Citrix payroll... refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cUc0jJnH80 for detail. No comment on the quality of these videos however.......................

Brian Madden lives off making meaningless headlines. Too much trash talk and not enough substance from Mad Madden

Bidness, etc? Thats a credible source. My ad-block closed over 110 ads just clicking that link.

"In a bid to minimize its increasing costs, the company has plans to cut over a 1,000 jobs in the coming quarter, as it plans to move its headquarters back to Florida." (http://www.bidnessetc.com/57720-citrix-systems-inc-layoffs-to-hit-1000-workers-amid-goto-spinoff/). brian madden: 1, citrites in denial: 0

Madden is just a critic...and not even a good one. He's been wrong so much, its not even comical anymore. Its so clear he's a vmware fanboy, and likely on their payroll. The tech world will be a better place without that loud-mouth no talent hack.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad that Citrix made these announcements. The bleeding has to stop. VMware is doing everything right in the EUC space and Citrix is bleeding talent. Yesterday’s announcement was a step in the right direction. Hopefully they’ll make several more right steps and get this ship pointed in the right direction before it’s too late.

It would make sense

I think the end of the article is more telling

Every acquisition from here on out would lose their entire team. People dont leave the Valley if their startup is bought....