Pros
I’ve moved around the company a bit over time but mostly worked within the Research org where I am based now. My role is fairly broad covering development, customer collaboration and defining research projects. I have an amazing team based around the world reporting to me. Overall the projects are interesting and one of the reasons I come into the office everyday. The office is a nice environment and great for collaboration with those that do turn up. We have a great social atmosphere and we’ve grown together, another reason why I enjoy working where I do. I’ve learnt a huge amount while I’ve been at Autodesk. A lot of areas of management are often new and difficult for someone from a more technical background but I’ve managed to get enough help to be successful in the role. There’s some really great mentors and people you can learn from.
Cons
There’s been a period of significant slowdown. At least in part due to the pandemic but it seems the culture has shifted even though it’s approaching nearly a year since the last shutdown. I think a lot of projects lost momentum and people started to question their purpose and belonging which led to a shift in the way research is being undertaken, fewer but larger projects rather than many smaller ones (although oddly it seems like we are still doing many disconnected small projects just under the umbrella of a larger one). This process has taken so long to bring in, half of research has been unable to do anything for about 6 months. There’s been a high turnover of staff recently. The market is very strong even now despite the downturn in the tech stock market. Autodesk is struggling a bit to compete on salaries but that isn’t always the things that drive us, importantly the work that we do has been paused for a long time people left so they could actually do something. A lot of the recent departures were waiting to see what the new changes to research were and clearly they didn’t like it. From the teams I work with there’s been a 20-50% departure rate recently. This does hurt moral somewhat. In the past the way we approached work was very simple. Find a customer problem or develop our own and then develop a solution to it. The new way is very slow, layered with process and far from simple. This could wear people down if it’s not done right. The company has a flexible approach to work but this is perhaps a little too flexible. I think they are suffering a bit with “quiet quitting”. Work from home whilst working well for many is potentially being spoilt by a few. Managers are a little reluctant to weed these out as there is no guarantee they will get the headcount to replace them. As a very motivated and driven person knowing people are doing the minimum and not willing to push themselves does make me question if I’m in the right environment to push myself. Fortunately the groups in the office are really motivated individuals and that gives me a lot of energy.
