FIRE! READY! AIM! UNDER-Performer. GREAT core tech, POOR execution. CONFUSED products. (Couldda Been a Contender!)
Pros
PEOPLE are mostly AWESOME and super friendly! There are of course some exceptions, but everyone here seems genuinely interested in how things are going and seems to be interested in trying to make a difference. Dead weight mostly won't stick around too long (unless management turns a blind eye, which has happened). If the people weren't as good as they are, I suspect there would be higher turnover. VERY strong product engineering for core products. AMAZING Technical Assistance Center (TAC) - they are among the best in the industry. Strong technical leadership. EXCELLENT cloud product offerings (but many aspects of licensing and billing remain an issue for field sales teams). STRONG product value proposition (if you can figure out what product you need, and what version of code you should be running). I HAVE LEARNED A LOT both technically, and in terms of what propels a company forward and what holds them back.
Cons
FIELD SALES LEADERSHIP needs stronger people in the field. LOUSY REGIONAL SALESPEOPLE who think they can just pester prospects after a "demo", then collect a PO and lean entirely on their SE is a critical fallacy and a recipe for tech turn-over, something this company cannot deal with, especially with respect to the growing confusion in the current product lineup. Hire GROWN-UPS; not little kids in over their heads who want to whine to mommy & daddy. SERIOUS SOFTWARE QUALITY ISSUES bubbling up over last 2 quarters, but are now mostly "on the mend". It is worrying to see that core product mis-steps have had several long-term customers dump A10 to move to competitive solutions after being burned on ops issues with these products one too many times. If you cannot release a product where EVERYTHING JUST WORKS, then DON'T RELEASE IT, DON'T TALK ABOUT IT, DON'T POST IT ON THE WEBSITE as "GA" or "EA". Just DON'T. SHARES/OPTIONS UNDER WATER by 2X due to crappy forecasting and subsequent Wall Street punishment. Shares ARE undervalued, but I would have thought that board and C-Level people here would have had some experience with taking a company public so everyone could profit. I guess not, or their profit-sharing ideas are a sham...not sure. COMPENSATION - frozen salaries for 24+ months? Even for those of us selling despite all the above? REALLY? CURRENTLY, there are many more cons than pros. Came on board looking long-term home and options that'd be worth something. Too many growing pains here that undermine core product focus and if not fixed SOON, the outlook is quite bleak.
