Cost cutting and politics created a negative experience
Pros
The work/life balance was pretty good, and the specific team I worked on was full of bright, passionate people. The company encourages lateral moves and allows a lot of flexibility in terms of the types of things you'd like to work on.
Cons
Oracle is cheap. Really cheap. Entire departments went two years with salary freezes, and constant cost-cutting measures made employees feel undervalued and underappreciated. One specific example: In order to improve their books by removing the liability of owed vacation, Oracle forced a company-wide Christmas break on all employees - a mandatory four-day period where we were required to expend nearly a third of our meager 13 days of vacation, without enough notice to actually plan any vacations during the time period. During the time period I was there, more than half of my immediate team churned out of the organization. More are on their way out. Oracle consistently pays below-market rates for employees, and nickel-and-dimes on benefits.
