Autonomy Reviews

I worked at Autonomy

Pros – Autonomy pays pretty good salaries, and offers perks such as a free Christmas trip to Europe for their party, and for salespeople, a trip to Miami in January for a conference. Both of these trips are well funded, great hotels and lots of fun (Miami is also hard work, but in a good way!)
The technology is really exciting, and the brand has a fairly good image. The 'story' is a good one to tell customers and the PR team are fantastic at their jobs. There's an amazing client list - although double check as some of those 'clients' are clients of acquired companies, and some of them are emphatically no longer clients!

Cons – Perks are NOT guaranteed - they are entirely at management discretion. Cross the wrong person and you will find yourself without an invitation, or even 'uninvited' by them providing you with 'vital' work to do which means you cannot attend. Holidays are the legal minimum unless you have come from an acquired company. Other benefits are nonexistent - no health cover, no dental, nothing. There's a discount on childcare vouchers, but frankly if you have kids...Autonomy is the last place you would want to work. Hours are very long, and weekend work is common - with no overtime, or time in lieu. Tough luck! Their approach is that you should be overwhelmed with gratitude for still being in a job - seriously.

Autonomy suffers from a culture of endemic bullying endorsed by senior management. This is not a joke - even great performers can be shouted at or threatened if they are having a bad quarter. And at Autonomy, *everything* is about the quarter. Stand up for yourself, question management decisions in any way - and you will magically find yourself working away from home for weeks on end, or working till 3am over the weekend.

The company does *not* support home working - they will not pay for any communications setup (though you can use your own broadband), and instead prefer to see employees work ridiculous hours in the office.

You may be required to attend Webex conferences at any hour of the day or night. These are compulsory and attendance is monitored.

Everything employees do is monitored and measured exhaustively. Underperformance for any reason will incur a humiliating 'conversation' with management, or termination. Employees are incentivised not to help each other out - there is no perceptible chain of command, so finding an answer to a query can take hours of messing around, buck-passing, or a blank wall of deliberate ignorance.

There is no training given to salespeople - they get 1 week of 'training' how to deliver a slide presentation and as a result, most of them have little clue and are frequently told 'just sell it, say whatever you need to, and we'll sort it out afterwards' - NOT a recipe for customer satisfaction. Even the top long-serving performers are not informed of new developments/acquisitions until after the event.

Staff turnover is absolutely terrifying - they say here that unless you've been to Miami twice, it's not worth getting to know you. Sad, but not much of an exaggeration. Leavers are not talked about - they become 'the vanished', and usually the only way you will find out is when they stop responding to your emails and you ask around.

There are just a few people at the top of the company who are proud of 'running like a startup'. Even so-called 'senior managers' and 'directors' have no power and have to refer upwards even for minor decisions, yet they're given the most unpleasant tasks, e.g. firing people.

You are expected to 'believe' - the company's arrogance knows no bounds, competitors are denigrated rather than investigated. At the moment, the technology is truly exciting - but execution is very poor in places. Don't believe the PR juggernaut, many of their customers are very unhappy indeed.

I have worked for 4 major PLC companies in the last 15 years, and have never worked in such an unpleasant, unfriendly, unprofessional environment. Both customers and employees are treated with total disdain. Leaving the company was the best decision I ever made, what a sad thing to have to say.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to treat your employees as human beings - they have lives, families, and a lot of loyalty to give. 'Presenteeism' is not a good culture for productivity! It would be much better to build a friendly atmosphere of ethical success, with a culture of training, growth and promotion, and employee loyalty would be fanatical. Having to constantly find more 'cannonfodder' to replace constant staff turnover is expensive and counterproductive. A focus on quality and testing instead of PR could make Autonomy bigger than Microsoft.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Autonomy

Pros – If you're young, single, life evolves around work, and you're happy to fight your colleagues and do the hours you'll be rewarded. Technology is pretty cool, and leading edge in many areas. Chance for travel. Central London office is great location, and all the marketing girls are gorgeous.
Sales People can earn literally millions. Most of the support people are young and energetic, and fantastic guys to work with.

Cons – Bullting and intimidation by management.
Almost messiah approach to company philosophy - there shall be no opion/thoughts/views/ other than the CEO. If you clone yourself into Mike (as senior management have) you will be despised but financially well rewarded.

Advice to Senior Management – No need to ask staff opinions of work environment. its put up or shut up. Trust your staff and move to reward culture.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Autonomy

Pros – Hugely challenging workin environement. Broad exposure to new technologies. Excellent team ethos and dynamic working environment. Opportunties are varied and performance related. Excellent identification of an individuals skills and strengths. Hard work and dedication are rewarded. Strong competent management who quickly identify what is neccessary.

Cons – Core emphasis on sales and targets, placing enginering under strain. Acceptance that hours beyond 40+ a week are standard with no obvious financial reward; no clearly defined bonus structure. Dynamic working environment, wi'th 'upstart' approach is effective provided communication is clear and well maintained. Otherwise, lack of process can result in work being duplicated and poor quality results. Probably the result of rapid growth and huge success.

Advice to Senior Management – Implement basic processes and ensure products and services are sold clearly with regards to their capabailities. 'Yes' cluture places engineering under unsustainable pressure.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Autonomy

Pros – If you have talent its a greatcompany, best technology unlimited rewards for the stars. Company is grwoing very fast and awards big opions grants to those that suceed. If youa re brifgr you will be surrounded by really smart people.

Cons – if you are mediocre or want 9-5 avoid this company, if you don't like a hot kitchen this is not for you. The company is on a mission and you are either on board or not. People here do amazing things and when there is a crunch hours can be long for a week or two.

Advice to Senior Management – more training and as things are moving so fast it would be good to get more updates. Don't be told to put in more process keep it the fun place it is

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Autonomy as an intern for less than a year

Pros – accountability
pay
less number of people and hence you get to know every one and easy to reach
cafeteria is good and cheap
some teams are doing great job

Cons – no proper work culture.
bangalore office is dummy. Every single order has to come from head office.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Autonomy full-time for more than a year

Pros – Fast pacing environment;
Lot of technologies involved;
Smart people, open communication;
Your opinion is listened to;
Benefits are respectful.

Cons – Professionalism is recognized but not so fast as one would wish - promotions are slow

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Autonomy full-time

Pros – Really unique technology with impressive executives and previous sucess.

Cons – Sales team was largely ignored, tight quarters with little to no management

Advice to Senior Management – Please take time to more formely train new new business development executives to ensure they're on teh right path.

I worked at Autonomy for more than a year

Pros – Honestly can't even think of anything positive of Autonomy, sadly. It had great brand name of Interwoven, people were great

Cons – In APAC, it was a nightmare. Past management prior HP acquisition was a total shocker. Poor leadership (locally and globally). Product marketing is half baked. Sales ppl ware asked to perform regardless. Unfortunately, this is not the place to be if you want to contribute to a proper working environment that you could excel in your career.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to employees and customers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Autonomy full-time for more than a year

Pros – The company has a large data center presence and steady growth.
As a PM, you get the chance to apply your project management skills to real-world IT projects.

Cons – Management is eccentric and acts in a secretive manner.
One day, your job is going well, and the next day, you're out the door without any explanation.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't withhold information from your employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Autonomy full-time for less than a year

Pros – most powerful black box technology for squeezing maximum value out of corporate knowledge and experience resources.

Cons – Very little flexibility in opportunity management

Advice to Senior Management – why not build a search engine based on IDOL?

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company