Good place to start your career with. Very closed culture especially from the Former Nortel employees. Avoid Montreal
Pros
Local Gym Good location if you are in Ville Saint Laurent Good startup for engineers eager to work closely with Low Cost Manufacturing Health and Dental benefits are reasonable.
Cons
Senior Management inherited from the Nortel Era in Montreal. Very dysfunctional at the level of cross organizational activities. Very short-sighted middle managers and no long term vision No formal training. A lot of self preservationist attitude that make you sick to your stomach. In brief, the management at Montreal Ciena is the wash off from the bankrupt Nortel days. Unfortunately the flagship products are that of the Ciena Ottawa/Montreal which makes the long term vision very bleak if head office in Linthicum, MD does not do anything about it. Very "clicky" and very hard to break into the ranks for the established "hierarchies". A lot of arrogance and attitude. Zero chance for progress and promotion. Overall, a place to start with your career but not beyond 3 years maximum. If you are ambitious and looking for new challenges then it will be a hard place to stay in for very long unless you get accepted in the established clicks. You could be the most educated person of the bunch and yet managers will only think of their service impact on the short term rather than benefiting the company with the expertise of the talented and educated professionals.
