Lack of training, support...stay away!
Pros
- Easy commute and lots of parking - New coffee machines - Some of the employees were friendly, outgoing - Professional environment
Cons
I'm not going to mention in which department I worked in, but I was dismissed without cause (most likely due to lack of departmental budget). I definitely do think that every department acts as it's own entity in the way manager's govern their lower-ranking employees, etc. I had friends in other departments who had very flexible and laid back managers while others were very rigid and hardheaded. There was no proper training outline made when I first started. The manager never once trained me but relied on others to train me on tools, tasks, methods, etc. Although some of the departmental staff were friendly, it very much seemed like a facade. The company "spoke" about a strong work/life balance but never demonstrated this (e.g. no social events, everyone was only work, work, work, etc, very minimal social interactivity). On top of all this, as the building is LEED certified, one of the disadvantages was that during the colder months, there would always be a cold draft coming from the vents above which made working very uncomfortable and chilly. Many complained but management didn't do anything about this. Throughout my time at Siemens, I realized that you can be fired/terminated without any valid reason. If the management/exec management/top level management in Germany doesn't like you for whatever reason you are out! The company was also a very "top down" organization in that everything had to go through several approval steps and a final approval from the HQ in Germany. This was a lengthy and tiresome process to say the least.