the company would be crazy not to re-align.
The company realigns every 9-12 months. "The old way was obviously terrible, this way is obviously much better" which is fine once, but repeating that at least once a year gets old.
I've seen on average a big layoff every year in the 5 years I've been here. Upper management changes even more often. - much more off than their typical "2 year stint" would have you think.
Joining a company that is shrinking is suicidal, either join a stable company or a startup. Avoid VMWare for the next 2 years.
Anyone can see that growth is slowing in compute and increasing in other areas - the company would be crazy not to re-align.
For a company of it's size, it changes ALL THE TIME to focus on what works best for customers...
stock tanked because Dell pulled half of the value out of it.
go find anyone who thought the EMC buy was a good idea and slap them
oh wait - they are all gone. parachuted away with their $$$
As said by @FED717j-1sng, do a quick assessment as to how you think the market/economy would respond and support the BU you're joining. I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that any positions open or renewing at VMware are considered important and of the correct focus area. Anything otherwise was cut (perhaps a bit too liberally so).
I really will miss the Hosted team, but in the end the Hosted products weren't really huge money makers for VMware. I guess I can understand the choice to some level, but it doesn't make it any easier to swallow. And I really think at least some of them should have been retained. Losing the entire team seems pretty backwards to me.
Anyway I think if you're getting involved with the software defined networking and datacenter stuff, it should be real good. Oh, and don't silo yourself too much either way.
Take it - your RSU's will be at a ridiculously low price, and if they're investing in the division you're joining (obviously as they're making an offer post-layoffs) - do well and you'll be well off.
And join VMWare only if you want to experience what mass layoff feels like. Once the deal with Dell closes, post deal layoffs are going to be epic.
What team is the hosted ui team?
turn down the offer. there are better places to work. the canning of the hosted ui team, some members who have domain knowledge of very deep components and have been with the company from nearly the beginning, proves that there is nobody safe at the company - anyone can lose their job at any minute to make this merger go through.
maybe things will get better after that, but for now, you're safer at another company. do yourself a favor and decline.