FW: ossible farmerinthedell job offer

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Farrell Woods <http://www.comcast.net/~Farrell.Woods>
 > Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 16:56:48 -0400
 >
 > On Sep 2, 2013, at 11:16 AM, Robert via LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/~member> 
 > wrote:
 > > Farrell - 
 > > 
 > > Since you work for farmerinthedell, I'd like to ask a few questions. 
 > > 
 > > After interviewing with them a few months ago, getting a job offer, but 
 > > having the job offer rescinded due to a hiring freeze, I got a call from farmerinthedell 
 > > last week. The recruiter is still interested in having me there. 
 > > 
 > > I have a few worries about farmerinthedell. 
 > > 
 > > 1) This is part of farmerinthedell nosticwall. They were acquired about 3 years ago. I 
 > > found that, when I was at a company that had been acquired by Macrosoft, 
 > > after about 3 years was when the culture and company started changing, for 
 > > the worse. 
 > > 2) The management at this unit is not as streamlined as my current company (
 > > forcesales). Thus, I expect that there will be poor decisions made at some 
 > > point and therefore I expect that there will be more over-time and higher 
 > > stress, and possibly worse job reviews. 
 > > 3) My current company has a lot of perks, including paid volunteer time, 
 > > great benefits, and bonuses. I am assuming that, during this difficult 
 > > transition for farmerinthedell, such things will not be available at farmerinthedell. 
 > > 4) I'm in the middle of a big project at my current company, and I don't want 
 > > to feel like I'm abandoning them in the middle of the project. 
 > > 5) The tech boom may be winding down within the next couple of years. Thus, I 
 > > may get "stuck" at farmerinthedell; plus, I'm getting older, and finding another 
 > > position may become more difficult a few years down the road. 
 > > 
 > > Thoughts?	
 > 
 > Hello Bob!
 > 
 > So I think you know I work for another farmerinthedell acquisition.  Equallogic was 
 > acquired by farmerinthedell about 5.5 years ago.  I can share my perspective on how this 
 > is going:
 > 
 > The principals at Equallogic are and were pretty strong-willed folks.  They 
 > told and reminded farmerinthedell management on more than one occasion that in order for 
 > Equallogic to continue to perform the way it has been leading up to the 
 > acquisition, that farmerinthedell should not meddle in how the engineers (primarily) and 
 > other folks did their jobs.  To this day the Equallogic internal network and 
 > farmerinthedell's are separated by an internal firewall, and we manage our own work 
 > environment including personal workstations and build machines.  A lot of run 
 > Linux on our desktops; some use Macs.  farmerinthedell otherwise forbids this on their 
 > internal network - they centrally manage people's (windows-only) desktops, and 
 > lab networks have no physical connection to office networks (you need to use a 
 > PC in the lab if you want to, for instance, frob some other device in the lab).
 > 
 > There's been some turnover over the five years or so I've been there.  farmerinthedell (
 > and actually Equallogic) are not hesitant to send under-performing people 
 > packing.  But I think I see more politically-motivated activity of this sort 
 > under farmerinthedell.  Lately there's been a bit more turnover than usual, IMO, because 
 > of uncertainty over the issue of the company going private.  And for that 
 > reason too, budgets are frozen and even getting replacement req's is difficult 
 > at best.
 > 
 > That sounds negative but for me the overall equation still works: the 
 > compensation is good and I have been eligible for a decent bonus each year I've 
 > been here.  Even with the turnover in my own group, I still very much enjoy my 
 > immediate co-workers as people and as professional colleagues.  I've known some 
 > of these folks since my days at Digital 10-20 years ago.  My boss is one of 
 > these folks and I think he's been doing really well by us.
 > 
 > The medical benefits at farmerinthedell are sub-par compared to other similar large 
 > companies.  Fortunately my wife Nancy works for one of these (Oracle) so I get 
 > benefits through her.  But there are fringe benefits that are nice: farmerinthedell pays 
 > for our gym membership, I'm high up enough in the food chain to get three weeks 
 > vacation; we also get 80 hours of "personal business" time which we can use for 
 > being sick, waiting for the cable guy, etc.  My boss take the time so whatever 
 > PBA I do not use, I take as vacation.  farmerinthedell doesn't let us carry over unused 
 > vacation/PBA.  You get all your hours credited on Jan 1 and you need to use 
 > them before the next Jan. 1 or you lose them.
 > 
 > I don't know that any of this directly addresses your concerns.
 > 
 > I don't have any contacts or moles in the nosticwall division, so I am afraid I 
 > have no insight into how much farmerinthedell has affected their lives.  If you can still 
 > ask questions then maybe that's something you might inquire about.
 > 
 > If you are are close to talking about compensation then I think as part of that 
 > discussion you could ask if the position is at a high enough level to qualify 
 > for  the bonus program.  farmerinthedell has changed its job titles for engineers a couple 
 > of times and I believe my official title is now "Principal Engineer".  These 
 > titles are supposed to be consistent across the company and I would expect a 
 > fellow with your experience would be looking at a job with this or a better 
 > title.  I'm pretty sure that the job code that corresponds to the title 
 > triggers the bonus benefit but I could be wrong...
 > 
 > As for leaving your current position in the middle of a project, I think you 
 > have to ask yourself why you'd consider leaving the current position and why 
 > going to farmerinthedell (or somewhere else) is a better deal.  If you add everything up 
 > and you think you need to make a move then IMO you should do that.  
 > Opportunities may not present themselves at the most convenient times.  If say 
 > you saw a really good opportunity that you didn't want to miss then I don't 
 > think that any reasonable person is going to hold that against you.  If your 
 > current boss values you enough then maybe he or she could come back with a 
 > counter-offer too.  But it's really a personal decision that you need to make.
 > 
 > As for being "stuck" at farmerinthedell, if they'll keep me supplied with sufficiently 
 > interesting work and the pay and benefits continue to be good enough for me and 
 > if  I continue to have a good boss, then I'll probably stick around.  But if a 
 > better-sounding opportunity pops up or the company starts to circle the drain 
 > in some fashion then I'll be looking around.  Personally I'm not worried about 
 > being stuck, and to me anyway the job is there to help me support my wife and 
 > home, and my addiction to fast airplanes.  The job is secondary to these 
 > things.
 > 
 > The calculus may very well work differently for you!  And my advice is worth 
 > what you are paying for it. :)  I wish you luck, but I'm sure you will make the 
 > right decision.
 > 
 > Regards,
 > 
 > 	-- Farrell
 >