Strange f---ing times. After nearly 18 years at Sun / Oracle, tomorrow will be last day...

With the exception of a slight career detour in recent years, I pretty much worked for Sun and Oracle for my entire adult. The houses I bought, my wedding with my wife, all those diapers and baby expenses, my kids private schools....all from Sun and Oracle.

I had a great run there. Made enough money (and invested wisely enough) where, while not super rich or can retire in the Bahamas, I will never have to worry about money again assuming I don't get into crystal meth or crack. McNealy / Ellison treated me nice.

Not too worried about the financial future even without that wealth - I actually have the exact same skills that Oracle claims they can't find talent for, so I will get paid - but I've the got the Scarlett Letters of OCI-C that makes me untouchable to the OCI group. Basically, driven out by politics.

Larry takes his time to get into cloud, blames the guys building it instead of high level strategic failures. New guy wants the DB revenue, so kills OCI-C for OCI and wants to mold everything for himself. I'm just a foot soldier caught in the crossfire.

Oh well. Oracle is basically the Titanic, and I was graciously offered one of the early lifeboats.

Oracle revenues have been basically flat ($35 Billion in 2011, $39 Billions in 2018) during one of the biggest booms of our lifetime. No one thinks of Oracle for cloud, which is their big bet. What new company is going to use Taleo when you got Workday? Who the heck uses Oracle NoSQL when there are great, non-copycat alternatives? Do you know anyone who used Oracle Cloud outside of Oracle testing?

It's sad in a way. I was a loyal Oracle guy. I would fight for them, resist overtures from other companies because I really digged Oracle's culture and the friends and colleagues that I worked with. No, they weren't perfect, but it was a company that valued an employee's family and use to try to avoid layoffs. I actually took less money for the work-life balance and because they invested in their employees long-term. Heck, they gave me the time and money to get graduate degrees part-time. Alas, cause some guy wants "his guys" to be there, all that goodwill is thrown away.

S---s that Oracle just became a classic case of corporate politics and BS taking over employee satisfaction. Oh well. I know Oracle's going to throw ridiculous money up in Seattle to hire someone who has a lesser skillset than I. When Oracle loses their employees' loyalty, they have to make it up in ridiculous cash. I guess, in the end, the person who they hire, and myself, will end up richer - and Oracle will remain poorer.

I'll miss Oracle and Sun. But I consider myself pretty lucky to have been there.

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"All the Sun folks I know in the US had their years at Sun counted, up to the 26-week max payout."

Ditto.

Outside the US the rules are different.

"up to the 26-week max payout" ie 6.5 months. I know people who already got 7 months payout, so I am not sure if there is a max. tenure for payout.

"The counting of the Sun tenure must either be for those at a certain level, or they changed the policy since 2015. Of my 18 years total at both places, my severance was only calculated on the Oracle time"

That's not how it's supposed to be. I was part of an acquisition (really, who wasn't at Oracle) and at my 10 yr mark, someone mentioned to me that there was a work anniversary gift program that I was entitled to. I had not idea about it, I was told I should have gotten it my 5 yr mark. I contacted HR and they had my hire date as my acquisition date. I argued it and they corrected it. You might have been screwed out of your extra years due to an HR mistake.

Sun... obscured by clouds

All the Sun folks I know in the US had their years at Sun counted, up to the 26-week max payout.

They could the most recent hire date, so if you never left since Sun (or any other acquisition), all of those years would be counted.

Very well said OP. Sad to see all the pioneering technology going down the drain for the NIH crowd.

Best wishes to you!

Best wishes to you. Must be very bittersweet memories. Good to know some part of Oracle was once a good place to be.

I got RIFd yesterday. Part of compute classic. 15 years with Oracle. Remote worker.

YbADDXy-vss, thx for confirming that US employees get the sh-- end of the stick.

My sun tenure was counted when I was riffed in 2018. It was outside the US

How they are calculating the severance? 1 month full pay for every completed year in Oracle time?

ADF - me, not so lucky. Not a skill that other employers care about. No value on my bio.

The counting of the Sun tenure must either be for those at a certain level, or they changed the policy since 2015. Of my 18 years total at both places, my severance was only calculated on the Oracle time

Yes, Sun tenure is counted

One question:

Did they consider Sun's tenure while calculating severance package? will it be like 18months take home severance package+gratuity...

When I was rif’ed I was offered a position in fusion apps doing web logic development with java 6

Don’t forget ADF! This is what Steve’s group considers bleeding edge technology. You dodged a bullet for sure.

Unfortunately that is the rule but there are exceptions. Those are generally the places you want to work.

It is not the skill set. The new generation of folks can not distinguish between concepts vs specific tool to define what "skill" means. You gain that insight after being around the block for many years in this industry. Unfortunately, this industry is ready to let go off people who have, just to give you an analogy, of people who have crafted with all the previous source control systems and have written extensions to them or built them themselves to write off someone as "not having github" experience. Replace github with something else. The layoffs are brutal and never anything to do with skill.

Outside of the US there is a 30 or more days notification period for layoffs. During that time you can look for a different job within oracle.

OP: I could have written your post word by word, except some few details,

I'm almost 20y now in Sun/Oracle and I'll be riffed end of may (in my country there is a minimum time to rif people)

So far so good, I have enjoyed really a lot working in Sun (more with Scott, less with ponytail), I have worked in Oracle with a slighlty less enjoyment but always as a loyal soldier.

Both treated me honestly from a salary pov, so I will not have any problem when riffed. But it's really a pity to see how people remaining are those who have always played the game of "visibility", "manager flattering", "back stubbing", etc.. rather than those who sincerely tried to do the best possible work for the company.

Oh well, it is what it is, thanks Scott and Larry for making my bank account so comfortable, and farewell!!

So can they offer you a different job if your RIFed? I guess I didn't know that could happen.

It’s for the better. There is a big world of technology out there much of it better and more advanced then oracle. When I was rif’ed I was offered a position in fusion apps doing web logic development with java 6. I left and am much better off. The rest of the world has moved on to better technologies.

Well I'm joining the party too been there longer than you even. Sad times.. I hope its for the better anyways.

Congratulations! OP. You are a liberated soul now. Enjoy your life outside Oracle, whether retired or re-engaed.

This sums up how I felt when I was rif’ed a few months ago. However, there is life after oracle and i am enjoying working at a major bank working with a much wider array of technologies.

Thread regarding Oracle Corp. layoffs

Strange f---ing times. After nearly 18 years at Sun / Oracle, tomorrow will be last day...

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