F5 reviews

Very difficult to impossible to work collaboratively / cross-functionally. Most employees were only willing to work as a team when it was absolutely necesssary.

1. Pay raises are often dismal and disappointing - you're lucky or favored if you get anything above 4%. 2. Too much favoritism. The wrong people get promoted all the time for kissing butt ... but then again it's the same everywhere. This also applies to stock based compensation - many employees get nothing - others get a lot. 3. Most managers (bar a few) are clueless. Most managers don't have any idea on how the product works but they still attempt to lead you. 4. God help you if you join the test team. Most of the testers at F5 don't know what they are doing. If you manage to survive the test team long enough, you get promoted to become a manager. 5. Like with many companies, there's a pecking order and different sets of rules for different people. 6. Despite of what they say, it's not very easy to move between teams. 7. Don't expect too much feedback from managers/upper mgmt - most of the time they don't know what the employees under them are working on. 8. The company meetings/all hands meeting are a bore.