My neighbor’s son has a bachelors in computer science and recently came to me asking about the company. It was the usual type of questions about pay, culture, bennies- etc. Towards the end I felt a little trepidation because I didn’t know how I would respond if he were to ask me if I would recommend he apply for a job. Honestly, I couldn’t answer one way or the other. How sad is that? How many would/wouldn’t recommend and most importantly - why?
13 replies (most recent on top)
@6pgu not totally true. Nike on your resume will get you an interview. Many people don't have the experience at the scale nike has...that is what will get you an interview.
If you are having a hard time getting a job at a real tech company...1-2 years at nike with hard study on the side would not be a bad stepping stone.
Nike looks great on most resumes but not for tech. They’re not taken seriously in general and tech teams rarely get to work with the latest tools. If they want to work in high growth startups or large tech companies then I’d recommend getting a job elsewhere. You learn more, be treated better, and be more marketable.
Nike is an evil organization that does not bat an eye in violating labor laws both in Oregon and abroad. I would look elsewhere with a company that has integrity.
Everyone's experience is vastly different dep. on your area of expertise, so I would not recommend nor not recommend. Instead I would suggest he reach out to someone in the department that would be in his line of work....
Also, the days are over of Sr.Dirs and VPs having two girlfriends working in his same group despite being already being married. Watching both of them get dubious promotions from L band spots to management over qualified folks while doing so.
Nike culture really is b—s—. I got fed copious tons of it over a decade only to see non-sense like this happen again and again.
Only if its strictly for a foot in a door and/or to see what kind of leadership YOU DONT WANT TO FOLLOW. Use Nike for 2 years then leave. Other than that there are too many other good tech companies out there. Most dont have the toxic cool aid drinking non-sense of Nike.
There are many other good tech companies to work for. Nike Tech is not one of them. Until they get some leaders who can lead and define a strategy to support the vision, rather than play "best mates" your college student will stagnate.
I agree with one of the other posters, what are his goals? Maybe Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Qualtrics?
in my department we have not hired a full time engineer in I think almost a year. There is no plan for nike to build a engineering culture. About 6 years ago there was a huge effort and nike was looking like a great place to be a software engineer. Now no leaders care about any of those efforts. Ask any tech vp if they know what software we open source as a company.
I would never work at nike as a contractor. I was hired directly as a full time employee...so many told me how rare that was...but over the next year or so it happened often as we built a great engineering org. Now I know entire teams where only 1 or zero full time software engineers on the team. No sense of ownership or pride....I don't blame them nike won't even hire them.
I think their plan is to move many many of the jobs over to india and poland and continue to search for the cheapest costing software engineering they can find.
It is possible to find a decent job there today...but those are rare and you must know somebody.
The original post seems suspicious to me. The question why or why not. Someone in corporate doing some fishing??
If he wants to be with an industry leading tech company with an amazing culture that allows him to flourish, the. Nike is not the place for him. They will spend the next 5-10 years trying to play catch up for all of the tech investments they didn’t invest in over the last 5-10. If he wants to get paid and is willing to put personal happiness aside for a great salary and benefits, then Nike is a GREAT fit!
I would still recommend. Nike has it’s flaws just like any company - some worse then others. But it’s a great resume builder and he can develop good on the job skills. Just know any job is temporary and at the end of the day, they only care about the bottom line. Not the people.
Only join Nike as a U band and above. They treat V - L bands poorly.
If I was asked that question, I personally would ask him what is he trying to get out of his career. If it's security, I don't think there is such a thing for someone focusing in computer science. That area / major is always changing and you have to constantly push yourself to the edge of what you know. This opinion applies to any company including outside of Nike.
Nike is moving towards a more standardized company and it s—s because the days of getting trashed on Thirsty Thursdays are over. The days of going to a "off site" to Hawaii with your teammates with all expenses paid for by Nike are over. The "We have to travel to all these locations because we need to understand how they work" will now be limited. The culture has changed and Nike is focusing on the pennies, not the 100,000 dollar bill anymore and TBH, that's a lot of companies in this day and age.
We had an outrageous 10 years of ridiculous spending, we were fortunate enough not to run the tank dry during that time, but I guess the saying always goes "Gotta spend a lot of money to make a lot of money!". Not the quote I live by but the company has for many years.