1. Very political. What matters is what the management thinks, never the technical staff. Even though this is supposed to be a research organization, it doesn't function like one. Supervisors devote funds to their own projects, everything else is answered with "we don't have enough funds". If your supervisor isn't knowledgeable in your area of expertise, isn't as good as you are and has an inferiority complex (or is insecure), or basically doesn't like your face, you should start looking for a job elsewhere right away.
2. No opportunity for career advancement. Literally, zero chances. Because of the merger with SBC, it's not possible to advance while in the same role. In the case of Research, for the past years, nobody has been promoted. More and more, I ask myself: what sort of management would care so little about its people, that such an issue cannot be resolved in so many years?
3. No direction. Very poor management in Research. It's fine if managers devote everything to their own projects and ignore everyone else, but when there's a lack of direction, a lack of any big picture ideas, that's not good. I haven't heard anything about any vision, any general direction or plans we propose to the rest of the company. In this regard, Research managers are severely lacking.
4.Short term goals without in-depth knowledge. Because of the old AT&T's financial situation, to prove Research's worth, the researchers who stayed on began to do very short-term work. After the SBC merger, things continued the same way. Unfortunately, like any respectable engineering company, people involved has to understand how things work at the ground level. Researchers however do not usually want to spend as much time say attending maintenance window periods. They would much rather write papers. This directly results in researchers not really knowing the impact of their suggestions. At the same time, researchers, usually having ego issues, like to be treated seriously and have their suggestions used. This in turn causes the Research organization not to be taken seriously by the rest of the company. In a way, the mad thirst for more papers rather than doing good work contributed to this.
5. Un-American. This is a weird thing to say. When I was young, I hear a lot about how Americans are innovative, how meritocracy permeates everywhere, how there is fairness and equal opportunity for everyone. It's the other countries that are highly political, highly dependent on relationships or influence to get anything done. In a way, I used to think of AT&T as representing USA. I no longer think so, things are seriously very wrong, everything is rotting.
Please, do not join AT&T. It needs to die, it needs to be replaced by an honest, decent, innovative telecommunications company. One that better embodies the old American qualities.
