Pros
As always, my fellow Rackers are the best. Great coworkers can make any job worth it.
Cons
The list continues to grow. Rackspace has built its business on two major things: 1) That we are a service company, where Rackers volunteer their best on behalf of the customer. 2) That Rackspace's culture is what drives Rackers to continue to volunteer their best. "Leadership" is an all white, almost all male, primarily MBA/BBA cast - who now mostly hails from old Enterprise IT like EDS, HP, Microsoft, Dell, etc. The largest single contributor is EDS - a company whose primary focus beyond government contracts was working their employees into the ground, but not before pitting them against each other to tear each other down in the efforts of propelling their own self-interests forward. The Leadership team feels that things are wrong at Rackspace, and that it needs a major change. What does that leadership feel is wrong with the current trajectory of Rackspace? Is it their leadership? Why, no, not at all! The problems facing Rackspace are the Rackers, of course. It's the culture! Rackers are entitled. Rackers aren't thankful. Rackers ask for too much, and deliver too little. Is Management too bloated? Is the company too top-heavy? Of course not! Is Leadership's sole focus reacting to the market rather than providing a singular vision for the company's future? Of course not! We have ideas! Let's have a reorganization! Hey, did you know some people have to work at two jobs to make ends meet? Stop criticizing our decisions and work harder! We don't want to hear that Rackers have been forced into lesser work due to them having to constantly CYA! Why would they have to CYA? Just be perfect! Every. Single. Time. Like a Robot! Aren't you a robot? We don't want to hear that you're underpaid compared to the rest of the industry! We don't want to hear that you're unhappy we forced you to move to San Antonio, knowing that you can't quit because you found out you have nowhere else to go! We don't want to hear that management would rather burn a great Racker who's critical of our outdated processes, rather than a Racker who skates by but looks good on paper! We don't want to learn the lessons of the nimble cloud that allows our competitors to stay ahead of the game! Hey, let's say we're going to reduce roadblocks, but instead implement more processes to make Rackers even less efficient! Oh, but let's make sure to blame front-line Rackers for that inefficiency. Why? Because if we blame leadership or management, well then that might make US look bad! Hrm, we need more sales. You know who would make great sales-people? Our techs and account managers! Let's get them to start up-selling to customers now, because... you know, that's what they came to Rackspace to do! We only want to hire the best of the best. Just like Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and all of the other companies that pay more and/or offer better benefits to their employees! Now, we don't want to pay the best, but our MBA Degrees tell us that'll be just fine! Oh, and you can't work remote. I know we're in IT. I know we have the infrastructure for it. I know you don't want to move to San Antonio. But if you're not physically here, you're not worth the time. Honestly, we really don't want to have to train our managers to be remote-friendly. Really though, down here on the front lines and at the bottom of the pile, I've learned that giving my best depends on who my manager is. When I've had great managers, giving my best has been a lot easier. Not a cake-walk, mind you. Our terrible processes and increasing focus on sales continues to drive a dagger in my side every single day I come to work, but a good manager can make the out of touch decisions by "leadership" a bit less onerous. And when I've had terrible managers, I've learned that it's best to skate by until my terrible manager gets promoted and the new manager comes along in the next few months. It's really pretty sad. But while I might be cynical about Rackspace, our Leadership is far more cynical than I could ever be. Leadership is 100% convinced that of the entire IT industry, Rackers are so entitled that we choose not to even work. It has nothing to do with the structure surrounding those Rackers. Nothing to do with the leadership and management that built and supports that structure. No, somehow Rackspace just inexplicably hired the most entitled, lazy employees in IT. That's a pretty dim view of your employees, but I guess that's what the echo chamber of management has been telling them.