The advertising on the box says one thing, but when you open the box you will find something different inside.
Pros
Easy/Laid back office climate. A lack of formality and excessive rules. Company has been growing throughout the recession & always has vacancies. People here are generally positive.
Cons
Much of your experience & opinion of this company will depend on which part of Red Hat you work in as some parts can feel like you are working in any one of a million other non-special & so-so companies, while others are more like working in an evangelical church/cult (mostly in a positive way). While the company likes to promote how different and progressive they are, sadly, they permit and suffer from all the same negative things that other companies do, such as: Politics Neopotism Fiefdoms Disconnection Penny pinching There is a annoyingly steady & largely pointless proliferation of slogans, project names, department names and job titles that will make your head spin and buzz if you work here. Most don't make any sense or are very fancy & "new age" ways of saying those existing and well established functions. Then there is a constant "air of change" which the compay beleives is good for their business, but the company doesn't understand the serious implications of constant change nor that while change, a lack of boundaries and a lack of structure is a good thing in certain departments (e.g. software dev), it is a complete disaster in others. In addition, there are staff who still behave and function as if the company was being run out of a garage. Red Hat is supposed to be a global compay but it hasn't really understood what this means, yet, nor properly reflected this in its systems, procedures, policies and attitudes. There is a lot of disconnection between departments and groups and often, different groups of people are working on the same of similar areas or problems, oblivious to the efforts of others. This leads to obvious wasted time, effort and money and which creates exasperation & a deflating effect on staff, often cumulatively. The number of projects I have been part of and which are now gathering dust is depressing. Red Hat is cheap and also, cheap when it doesn't need to be or where it doesn't makes sense to be. But then it squanders lots of money on assinine consultations and ill thought out ideas, concepts and projects and which often forget or ignore basic and elemetary aspects, while the trendy and new ideas of X are given far too much weight. Red Hat does not hire enough staff for their needs and so people are overworked and heavy demands are placed on their time. Ultimately, this leads to poor performance and people leaving. I think the slogan "Penny wise and pound foolish" fits this company very, very well. It pains me to write this honest review as the company has, at heart, well intentioned ideas, products and aims and the spirit/ethos of a lot of people here is refreshing & exhilarating. They can become a great company if they play their game right, which at the moment they are not. The free bagels donuts & snacks don't make up for a laundry list of shortcomings however, which the company has to resolve if it wants to go much further.
