NetApp is going the way of SGI and Sun - Technical Marketing Engineer NetApp Employee Review

2.0
Feb 4, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are a lot of good people at NetApp and care about the company. My management is really good, but apparently this is the exception than the rule. Despite the company's best efforts, we still have a lot of customers who love us and want us to succeed.

Cons

The company has moved away from focusing on the customer. They have been so consumed with the 7 mode to cDOT transition that they were really late to flash and missed the cloud totally. The opportunities for this company have been squandered. The company strategy until very recently was close the gaps in CDOT and customers will buy. Well, we closed the gaps and customers went to the cloud instead. The lack of situational awareness probably started with Dan W's final couple of years, and accelerated tremendously under Tom G. George is trying to turn things around, but it is almost too late. We literally are building products that our customers do not want to buy. Our company calls FlexPod cloud should tell you everything about were we are at. Our customers are fleeing to the public cloud as fast as they can. Our response has been to create poorly performing Cloud ONTAP product and NetApp Private Storage. The former is a cynical exercise in giving our customers a choice of poor performance in the cloud or buy on-premises gear you didn't want to buy,. The latter is just cloud washing wrapped in a solution.

Explore other reviews about NetApp

5.0
Jul 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing company culture with supportive managers and teammates. Interns are trusted with meaningful projects that have real business impact. Great opportunities to learn, network, and grow professionally.

Cons

As a large organization, some processes can take time and navigating different teams can occasionally be challenging.

1.0
Jul 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

+ Some genuinely talented, kind engineers on the ground who make the day-to-day bearable. + Established company with recognizable products, so it's a fine résumé line if that's what you need.

Cons

- Compensation isn't remotely competitive with other tech companies for the same work, expect to be underpaid relative to peers doing equivalent engineering elsewhere. - Return-to-office mandate with attendance tracking. Leadership doesn't just require office days, they freaking track and count how many days each person badges in. This is giving jail-vibes and they treat you like a kid instead of grown-up professional. - Forced-ranking reviews. A mandatory quota means roughly 10% of people must be rated "not meeting expectations" regardless of actual performance. Good engineers get labeled underperformers just to fill the curve. - Manufactured internal competition. Because ratings are a zero-sum quota, teammates are effectively pitted against each other. It kills collaboration and makes the environment toxic. - Routine layoffs. In my experience, layoffs came around like clockwork — roughly twice a year, which meant constant job insecurity and a demoralized team that never got to feel stable. - Leadership has run a once-great company into the ground. In my opinion, George and the current C-level team have turned what used to be a respected place to work into a miserable, pathetic place. The direction under this leadership has been consistently toward more monitoring and pressure, and less trust, autonomy, and morale.

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