ORACLE | The Empire of Computer Companies

I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2012, majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Now I work as a software engineer at Oracle in Silicon Valley. I don't know much about Oracle's situation in China, so I can only talk about my experience working at Oracle in Silicon Valley.

● Geographic Location ●

Oracle has two major campuses in Silicon Valley. The headquarters (HQ) is located in Redwood City, mainly focusing on products such as the database Fusion and other software products. The original Sun Microsystems site is in Santa Clara, where Solaris and JAVA are the main products, and this is also where I work. The scenery in Silicon Valley can only be described as average, but the climate is very good, with plenty of sunshine all year round, which is comfortable.

● Working Environment ●

For engineers at the headquarters (2nd level - master's degree holders; 3rd level - those with a Ph.D. or more than 2 years of work experience), most of them are in cube cubicles, and the space is quite sufficient. Generally, there is a configuration of one desktop computer with two 24-inch monitors or a laptop with two monitors. Managers and 4th-level principals usually have their own small offices. In Santa Clara, it was relatively idle before, but now that there are more people, it's basically two people sharing an office or a cube.

Oracle doesn't provide working meals or snacks, only beverages like cola, soda, and tea. There are gyms on both campuses, which are available from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The work rhythm at the company is relatively relaxed, and everyone gets along well.

I don't know much about the HQ work team. According to my friends who work on databases and Fusion, it's a friendly environment. Some colleagues who left for other companies said that there was almost no communication there, and they actually missed the atmosphere here. In Santa Clara, the old engineers from the original Sun Microsystems are all very nice and extremely skilled technically. (Although many top talents left when Oracle acquired Sun, some still remained.) They offer a great deal of support to newcomers. Basically, they will reply to your emails promptly and provide detailed answers. However, there is a significant gap in the middle layer. There are relatively few engineers aged 30 - 40. So when the older generation of employees leaves, it will have a certain impact.

Most of the middle-level bosses are in India, and the higher-level bosses are in the United States. The bosses I've come into contact with are all very nice. I remember when I first came, I had a simple question that I didn't understand. I asked an Indian director about it, and unexpectedly, he specifically set up a web conference to explain it to me for half an hour.

Looking back now, both the Indian director and the manager here have taught me a lot. However, they don't interfere with my way of working. Instead, they provide help when I encounter problems that I can't solve on my own. So, the comfortable working atmosphere can be considered a plus.

● Work Content ●

I feel that for young people, work content is more important than treatment in the first few years after graduation. Oracle has a wide range of products, and there are many different departments or groups to be assigned to. The work content varies greatly among different departments and groups.

For a product like EBS, in terms of the software lifecycle, it has entered the later stage. What's needed is probably just maintenance and fixing customers' bugs. To put it more straightforwardly, it might mean spending a week setting up the environment and looking at the code, and finally only changing one or two lines. In this case, it's really hard to learn anything new and the sense of achievement is low, so many employees leave.

I'm relatively lucky because I'm in a product department that is in the growth stage. New features need to be added in each version, so I can learn a lot through projects. However, looking further ahead, we are just a small part of the whole. After a few years, we will also become like cogs in a machine, getting familiar with our business and having little new to learn. So what I want to say is that for those who want to come to Oracle, it's best to figure out what you want. If you want to learn and grow, find a group that is in the growth stage and has projects to work on. If you just want to muddle along, find a group with less work.

● Work Intensity ●

The work intensity of most groups is not too high. Development usually starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. QA usually doesn't have much to do most of the time. Our group is considered busy. We only need to work overtime a few weeks before the project deadline or when there are bugs after the version is completed. Additionally, Oracle is known as a "nursing home" in Silicon Valley, along with Cisco and IBM, which are also regarded as American state-owned enterprises. You can imagine the work intensity.

Indeed, compared with companies like Google and Facebook, it's much more relaxed. This is mainly reflected in the relatively low amount of code output, especially on the Solaris side. Since it's related to the operating system, code changes need to go through multiple rounds of review and testing. So the actual time spent on coding is not that much. Of course, there is a big difference between groups, and some groups are indeed busier. Working hours are very flexible. I usually work from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., without a lunch break. It's okay to chat, take a walk, etc. during working hours. If you need to work from home, just let your group know.

● Treatment ●

Treatment is something that most people care about a lot. Oracle offers a relatively high starting salary for newly graduated master's and Ph.D. students. In 2014, for master's degree holders, the basic salary was about $115K, plus a $15K signing bonus, a $7K relocation fee, and 4,000 options (which weren't worth much over 4 years). For Ph.D. degree holders, the basic salary was $135K, and the other benefits were the same.

The welfare is okay. The medical insurance is above average in Silicon Valley. It's easy to take sick leave. For maternity leave, the company provides 6 weeks of paid leave, and the insurance company will cover the rest. The company can contribute up to 3% of the monthly salary to the 401K plan. However, it should be noted that Oracle hardly offers bonuses and there is a serious pay inversion. At least in the past two years, my annual performance evaluations were all "Beyond Expectation" (second only to the highest level), but I still didn't get any bonuses.

There is also a retirement plan, but you need to stay for a long time to benefit from it. Other perks include some interest clubs and an annual peripheral tour, etc. These are just small benefits. There are 13 paid vacation days per year, and it's okay to ask the boss to take a 3-week vacation. After working for 3 years, you'll get 18 paid vacation days.

● Development ●

As mentioned before, there's no salary increase and no bonuses. But it doesn't mean that Oracle's salary is low. The salary of employees in Internet companies might be 1.5 times that of ours, but they work twice as long as we do. From this perspective, Oracle's hourly wage is higher, or in other words, it has better cost-effectiveness. Some colleagues even do business or take on private projects in their spare time.

Compared with the lack of salary increase and development space, the high opportunity cost is the main reason why most people leave. Moreover, it's fair to say that it's almost impossible for Chinese teams in China to be involved in important core products and technologies. Generally speaking, I think it's already good for most Chinese people to work their way up to a principal engineer or a middle-level manager in a large American company like Oracle.

In terms of management, there are only a few thousand Chinese employees. Compared with the HQ and IDC, they don't have much competitiveness. It's also unlikely that a manager in China will be in charge of employees in India and the United States. Of course, there are managers who have transferred to the HQ, but even at the HQ, there is still a glass ceiling.

● Recruitment ●

Oracle's recruitment in the United States gives people a sense of nouveau riche. Besides recruiting from the industrial sector, for campus recruitment, it mainly targets top universities with high GPAs. Top universities refer to Ivy League schools, as well as CMU, Stanford, MIT, etc., and the GPA requirement is above 3.7. However, the interviews are generally easy to pass. So for many of my classmates and juniors (from CMU), Oracle is just a safety net.

I can't simply say that Oracle is not a good company just because of the relatively poor treatment, the lack of learning opportunities, or the limited development space.

I think there's no such thing as a simply good or bad company. It depends on whether it suits you. If you want a balance between work and life, value quality of life, and don't have a strong ambition, then Oracle is a suitable company. But if you want to grow and earn more money, then Oracle may not be the right choice. So, it's all a matter of personal perspective. My experience and insights can only serve as a reference for you. The final decision is still in your hands.