Agilent Technologies R&D Software Engineer reviews

An excess of bureaucracy arising out of too much mid level management that does not want to move out of their comfort zone until it becomes necessary, rather than pro-actively trying out new thinking. There seems to be some amount of political turf protection with mid level managers seeking to expand their 'empires'. It's clear to me that career managers have a 35 year time table in their mind (Agilent still offers a pension) and they lack the sense of urgency to turn on a dime. Whether you work hard or not you'll end up getting the same company-wide bonus and forget about raises. Only recently they have claimed to move towards Individual performance bonuses, it remains to be seen how well it is implemented. They are a hardware company and software is an incongruous fit into their mix. If you are keen to get into management, be prepared to wait in line. For a young person this is a great place to be if all you want to do is raise a family and want a stable environment with not too much pressure but if you are driven and be inspired, look elsewhere.

Since the telecom bust in 2001, Agilent has been focused on keeping the company lean and profitable. As a result of this, hiring in the U.S. has been very limited even though we are growing headcount rapidly in Asia. The prospects of low growth within the U.S. has diminished morale somewhat and raised concerns about an aging domestic workforce. One of the less exciting aspects of working for a large company is that there are quite a few legacy products that are still in support mode and require some degree of attention even though most everyone would probably prefer to be working on new technology.