Congratulations To NetApp

Today, they were awarded a prestigious distinction, making #1 in FORTUNE's "100 Best Places To Work".

Now, I'm not going to make a snarky comment, or degrade their achievement in any way. 

They done good, and deserve all due credit.  On other topics, though, it's still open season ... :-)

Now EMC has something good to shoot for!

Comments

[Dave Hitz]

Thank you Chuck! You are my new favorite competitor. :-)

Dave

[Mike Shea]

That was nice to say. Thanks. I hope everyone gets to work for a Top Company in that list at least once in their career.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming... {:^D

[Brian Pawlowski]

Thanks Chuck. I appreciate it.

[Brian]

Chuck,
As a fellow EMC employee I admire your ability to see beyond the competitor bias and recognize a company who at least treats their employees with respect and dignity. It's not everyday that somebody in our industry is #1 in treating employees, it's good even if it is NetApp. Now, for the partisan comment from me... Since we fiercely compete with netapp in every storage opportunity, I think EMC should aim high, strive and compete with NetApp on this "best place to work" catagory too.

:grin:

Brian

[David Chapa]

Thanks Chuck - very kind words. NetApp is a great place to work even without the recognition by Fortune.

Cheers!

Chapa

[kostadis roussos]

Thanks Chuck.

[Luis B.]

Chuck,
As a former EMC employee, I'm sorry but I feel the comment "Now EMC has something good to shoot for!" is one of the reasons why I left and came to NetApp. EMC should have always made an effort to rank highly on this list.

IMHO what makes NetApp #1 on this list is that everyone from the top down believes in their corporate values, a true synergy.

Chuck I'm sure this is more of a priority "Now", but for me I always wondered what is was like working for a competing company in the "Fortune Top 100"?

Now I know. :)

[Chuck Hollis]

Luis, I sense a note of gloating in your response!

First, there are many good companies in the world that are not on that list. Not to take away from NetApp's achievements, but it is but one survey in a world of many surveys -- albeit a highly visible one!

Second, EMC is most assuredly not a place for everyone. The culture here is demanding, intellectually challenging, extremely fast-paced and very pragmatic.

It is not warm and cuddly.

Whether that makes it a "best place to work" or not is highly subjective, and in the eye of the beholder. For those of us with certain values, we love it.

Forbes (actually, their subcontractor) decided what might be important, ran a survey, and NetApp won. As a result, congratulations are certainly in order for their achievement.

Glad you've found a gig that you like!

-- Chuck

[neto from Brazil]

Hi Chuck,

This is neto from Brazil

How are you?

Thanks for your kind words about NetApp.

All the best

neto
NetApp - I love this company!

[Mark]

Actually EMC used to make Fortune's list of 100 Best Places to Work, back when we were about the same size as NetApp is today and growing over 40% a year. Most people who have worked at EMC since those years will tell you that, in many ways, EMC is a much better place to work now than it was back then (aside from the stock splitting every year, kind of a nice little thing back then!). And, in fact, EMC remains a contender for this list and, in recent years, we haven't missed by much according to the feedback Fortune provides. So, congrats to NetApp, but I sure wouldn't switch companies.

[Gilda Farvid]

Thanks for the congrats; much appreciated!

[Val Bercovici]

Thanks Chuck.

This may be the only comment I leave here in 2009 (if it is not censored :)

-Val.

[GJG]

Chuck -

Your blog is great - but i can't figure out how to subscribe to it in iTunes. It seems like it's only possible to download each episode. Is it possible to subscribe?

Thanks

[Axl_Rose]

EMC = Evil Machine Company

[Chuck Hollis]

Wow, Axl Rose! Taking time out of his busy music career to leave a comment on my blog!

Look, if you have something to say, the very least you could do is share who you are, and who you work for.

Thanks!

[Axl_Rose]

During my busy singing career I stopped off in Detroit to make this little video...NTAP....yeah you know me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSsNs6LPqT0&feature=player_embedded

I couldn't resist.

[AnalogKid]

Chuck, your response to Luis highlights exactly why EMC is not a "great place to work". It's the employees who take this survey and EMC used to be on Fortune's top 100 list for years.

Eventually, EMC simply stopped mailing out the link to the survey because their employees either ranked them very low, which knocked the company out of the top 100, or they simply didn't take it, because they didn't care. Employees who take the survey are happy to come to work everyday and are eager to express their happiness through this survey, to let everyone know.

"EMC is most assuredly not a place for everyone. The culture here is demanding, intellectually challenging, extremely fast-paced and very pragmatic."

Right, which means a lot of EMC's employees not only don't want to work there, but many of the current employees are likely there because they can't find anything better or they're simply afraid to leave.

"It is not warm and cuddly."

Why not? NetApp is in the same same industry as EMC and it's just as intellectually challenging and demanding, yet its employees are well compensated, get free breakfast a few times a week, and every Friday is free lunch and a beer bash. NetApp is doing extremely well and has tons of cash on hand. You want to talk about "intellectually challenging" and "demanding", Google has been in the top 5 of this list for the last few years.

"Forbes (actually, their subcontractor) decided what might be important, ran a survey, and NetApp won. As a result, congratulations are certainly in order for their achievement."

As I said above, it's the employees who take the survey, not the shareholders trying to raise the stock price.

I was at EMC for over ten years and left to get away from their "values" and "culture". I was treated horribly and saw some of the worst business practices imaginable.

[Chuck Hollis]

AnalogKid

You must feel strongly to comment on a two-year-old blog post.

Sorry you didn't like it here. As I said, the demanding and challenging pace of EMC isn't for everyone.

Hope things go for you better at NetApp. Enjoy the free breakfasts, beer and t-shirts.

-- Chuck

[AnalogKid]

Actually, I Googled "Evil Machine Company" and this post was at the top of the search results.

[Shanon Jackson]

My SO works at NETAPP and I was not excited to hear about their "on the company time" beer bash(s). As a recovering addict I think it poses problems for individuals like myself or even could possibly be "creating" addicts. Anyway I think their work atmosphere should be a little more professional than that.