Fun atmosphere and decent pay/benefits at the expense of actual learning and innovation
Pros
If you're young and looking for a fun, laid-back job after college, this might be the place for you. Work can be extremely slow at the beginning of each fiscal quarter and, depending on the org, the office might be completely dead or you might be working 6-7 hour days. Pay is pretty decent for entry-level sales engineering and quarterly bonuses are a nice relief. Benefits are great (comprehensive medical, health, dental, free gym, drinks in the breakroom, 401K matching, tuition reimbursement) and the Class Of in-residence training program is incredibly fun and gives you a decent product and sales/business foundation. More than anything, there are some really down-to-earth, genuine people here who you will form great relationships with.
Cons
If you're looking for a challenging, collaborative, and innovative work environment, this is definitely not the place for you. You might find yourself restless, doing a whole lot of nothing for weeks at a time while VPs of the constantly-changing organization re-strategize. It is enterprise-facing technology, so the products aren't particularly innovative and the work isn't all that interesting. There's a ton of internal ipolitics and red-tape, so it's hard to get anything new or innovative done and the status quo is preferred. Oh, and the sales tools are god-awful and communication within the account team isn't great for the team and is irritating for customers. Success in sales orgs is variable and largely depends on how well you can network, your territory, product pillar (database is king, everything else is secondary), and how well you or your sales manager gets along with your outside sales team. Happiness on your team largely depends on how your manager treats you. You will meet managers (mostly), sales reps, and sales consultants with ego who obsessively micromanage and treat their peers with disrespect. Sales consultants can sometimes go unappreciated, and hard work in the sales consulting org is not rewarded appropriately. The initial pay is decent, but don't expect a salary bump as you get promoted. There was also a lack of transparency regarding the bonus structure for Sales Consultants that were part of the Class Of program. The proposed total compensation is not close to what you will make, as every SC new to an organization is put on a bonus ramp-up plan. Cafeterias at the Redwood Shores campus have over-priced "employee discounted" meals. Work schedule is not very flexible - you work the business hours of your territory, so this might mean 7 AM - 3 PM.
