Stay away from the gears and you might find a sweet spot
Pros
The pros include a great benefits program and a lot of flexibility for many roles. I was able to work from home most of the time. It's also a global business so travelers might enjoy opportunities to see more of the world depending on your role. Oracle is a giant enterprise with about 150K people, so it's hard to write a review about the company as a whole. Because of it's size, it's possible to find pockets of well managed and very stable teams. If you're looking for work life balance and stability such a position could be a great fit—if you can find it!
Cons
Perhaps the biggest con is the company culture—while there are many many smart and talented people at Oracle the company culture stifles bottom up ideas and a real sense of connection to the company. This stems in part from the silo'd nature of the company. For example, I'm a marketer and discovered an incredible disconnect between product management and marketing. On top of that, the internal systems for everything from HR to collaboration are simply horrible. I can't tell you how much time I wasted on broken systems and processes. Finally, compensation is generally below market at Oracle—from my experience as a manager— raise pools are very small and the longer you've been with the company the further below market you'll be. One effect of this is that A players tend to leave the company ... if/when they come back they can reset to market rates. But that's the exception not the role which leaves the company full of B players. Finally, I don't have much faith in executive management when it comes to their vision or with respect to how they treat employees. Suffice it to say, I would only recommend joining Oracle if you come in with a great salary (because it will not increase), in a position that is not subject to political contests, and where you can work from home.
