Peeking over into the boards for other companies people are jumping to, most of them look just as bad. In fact there's one big company in particular that looks 10 times more toxic.
Is this just the reality of IT? Considering switching to a completely different industry..
"One thing that I've noticed is that the "cool" places to work are dreadful"
Yup. Not only do they overwork you, but the work environment stinks. Think cubicle life s*cks? Wait until you see the latest craze: bench seating, where you literally work elbow to elbow in a noisy and visually distracting environment, where everyone has to listen to music oh headphones to drown out the noise while they pound away on their keyboards.
Yes, Zerto
I've worked at a gazillion companies and I liked my stint at HPE. One thing that I've noticed is that the "cool" places to work are dreadful, and the "uncool" places treat their employees pretty well.
For instance, everything that I've heard out of Google and Amazon seems to indicate that they're exceptionally difficult places to work. This might be exciting if you're 25, but I have a wife and kids and I don't live to work.
On the other hand, I've had good experiences working for a lot of boring and reliable places. My favorite job of all time was working for one of the most hated companies in America. I wasn't even a customer, but they seemed to be aware that everyone thought they were a terrible company and they put in the money and effort to retain employees.
From what I have seen, the grass is not greener on the other side. California state jobs pay is 20% to 30% lower than what HP/HPE pays. Except the government, companies expect you work 10-12 hours if you want to get a pay higher than what you are currently getting at HP/HPE. The only people that I heard happy post-HP/HPE who are over 40 are those contented with the lower pay government job because of the stability or working as a consultant earning $80 to $100 an hour.
"Peeking over into the boards for other companies people are jumping to, most of them look just as bad"
And as soon as the current industry darlings stop growing rapidly, they too will have mass layoffs. It's the nature of tech. If you want to work in this industry, you have to change jobs frequently, learning new skills along the way. The days of long term tech employment are over,
There is no company of any size that wants whiner employees hungry for the past, afraid of change, and with skills last relevant in 2004. Stay where you are to get some paid time off when laid off, and if you saved and invested well in stock market for retirement all these years, you’ll be fine.
The formula is not that difficult (I've seen it work again and again)... Look for companies with less than 5,000 employees WW in a non-IT Industry. Expand your options (and accelerate your time to get a new job) by being willing to (1) accept a contract job - seek for 6 months min, (2) relocate, and (3) accept a non-drastic temporarily pay cut. In addition, network, network & network (I can't stress that enough - applying to 1,000 jobs online won't get you anywhere. You need to establish relationships with hiring agencies).
If you want to be unemployed for 6 months or more, do what everyone else is doing. If you want to be hired in 4 weeks or less, be flexible and open minded and follow my advice. Good luck, all!
"In fact there's one big company in particular that looks 10 times more toxic."
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Oh, come on, please do spill... Who is it?
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I looked at the postings about Dell, and had to smile about complaints about clueless, worthless managers, who run off to worthless training sessions all the time, which even some of these managers admit are just a plain waste of time.
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I suspect that yes, rampant egos and bad office politics are rampant in just about all of high tech. Guess what? Other businesses too! I have heard that bad office politics runs rampant in Academia, for example...