All façade and no character in Australia
Pros
The VMware title as an employer carries weight. It’s good to get the brand on your CV and then exit, as there aren’t many transferrable skills to be accumulated by working here. It’s just a good stepping stone, as I have seen while I was working here. Many come by and move on to bigger and better roles brandishing the logo on their CVs Corporate health care is very good. Other benefits are less than average. Shopping discounts are no better than holding the Frequent Values membership. I found out I had better shopping discounts from my insurance company. They have a few extra days off for COVID, but so do many other IT organisations Onboarding was a relatively seamless experience. However, don’t expect any support from management. You must raise a ticket for everything, and it’s outsourced Offices are nice, but they are not being used any longer due to COVID workplace restrictions. If you are highly technical and drink from the VMware cool-aid, you’ll be promoted to very senior technical positions that pay handsomely. If you’re not technical, it’s tough to obtain a managerial position. VMWare prefers to hire externally for senior roles. And if you’re not a white Australian, you’re especially disadvantaged
Cons
The people based in the Australian region are very superficial. You must be part of the clique, a very tight and conceited group led by immature accounts and salespeople. There are almost no opportunities for internal candidates unless you’re willing to polish an arrogant manager’s ego. The Talent Acquisition team does not even call back unsuccessful internal hires and completely ignores referrals. They are a group of stuck up airheads who are more interested in kissing up to sales managers who are equally superficial. Many senior people are high on their flatulence, trying to act like the most intelligent person in the room. Not because they are competent or experienced, but more so because everyone is constantly on guard looking over their shoulders, trying not to get stabbed in the back. Company EPIC2 principles are a total sham and are there for bragging rights only. In other global offices, leaders are noticeably more sincere and do have a high level of integrity. But the Australian managers are probably the worst of any company I have ever worked for. They act like narcissists who will only do charitable work if they can showboat it to invite accolades internally and on LinkedIn. The result is a high turnover of staff, especially in the Melbourne office. Talented people are constantly leaving for better-run organisations like Microsoft, Salesforces, Splunk, Google and AWS. Almost NO diversity in Australia. The place is entirely run by white Australians who try and act cool and hip. Occasionally, they’ll play the ‘inclusion’ card to seem like they’re doing the right thing. But nothing long term or of significant benefit to the people they’re trying to ‘help’. The non-white workers are just there to do the low-end monkey work and fill non-influential roles.