Rackspace Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great culture and people. Hiring is tough and culture fit is the first thing we assess with potential candidates. We use the latest technologies and you get to work on very interesting problems. A single person can have a great impact. Our customer-focused fanatical support isn't just something we say -- it's real.

The rack also has a very good life/work balance and is very family focused. Having to leave early to pick your kids up from school from time to time is no problem. As long as work gets done, that is!

Cons – The customer is king and sometimes we need to drop everything to help a customer out. The rapidly evolving cloud ecosystem means we sometimes need to quickly change course, which can be frustrating, but it's just a fact of life in the technology biz.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep it going the way it is. Keeping the culture of the company intact as we quickly grow can be tough, but so far it's working.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace

Pros – great culture, great people, always fun, always learning new stuff and expecting the next big think to come in soon.

Cons – some people work harder than others, but i guess that's true in any company. at least on this one, most people will try to help you and overcome those difficulties..

Advice to Senior Management – Keep your eyes and ears open to what's around you.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Rackspace full-time

Pros – A real focus on taking care of employees. They work very hard to find the right fit for people, and aren't jerks about moving people around to keep them interested. Salaries are generally competitive, and the cost of living in San Antonio is low. They even have an internal radio stations, and employees can DJ their own shows!

Cons – Lots of reorganization can become challenging to deal with. You never know quite where your desk is going to be from one day to the next. Rapid growth meant lots of new management coming in, often with wildly differing management styles.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace full-time

Pros – Great people and work place. All my immediate managers have been helpful and accommodating both professionally and personally. Co-workers are motivated, friendly and have a great work ethic. Everyone really tries to do the right thing for the customer and each other.

Cons – Nowhere is perfect, but I've built up my career there and it's consistently gotten better. With tenure and experience, compensation catches up.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep looking out for employees, and they will keep looking out for customers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Excellent potential for personal and professional growth with consistent challenges to all skills.

Cons – None that I can think of.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Rackspace full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Chance to learn cool technologies and work with awesome individual contributors. Socially conscious company. Provides ways to incorporate volunteer-ism and fitness into the workday. Nice treatment of veterans. Employees reach out to each other and the community in all sorts of ways.

Cons – Though their heart is in the right place, Rackspace could use some work. Rackspace's infrastructure is sorely lacking. The Rackspace culture is manic, dysfunctional, and reeks of cronyism. When management talks about "friends and family," it means they get to hire their incompetent pals without any checks or balances. I need a "Rackers Anonymous" meeting. The place is filled with people with "manager" or "director" in their title, without any clear indication of what they actually do. The best leaders at Rackspace tend to get their wrists slapped for not lining up with "core values" and tend to get lost in the chaos. The least effective leaders are encouraged to perpetuate the "let's talk about this forever without getting anything done" syndrome. Lots of managers use the core values to stifle innovation, speaking out, and risk-taking. For instance, I've seen more than one person get ousted for speaking up in meetings, for being innovative and proactive, for actually getting work done, or for being a self-starter. Rackspace promotes "group think" - if you don't line up with the ineffectual way they do business, you are accused of not conforming to core values or being a team player. They claim to value fanatical support - meaning, employees should feel empowered to do whatever it takes to do a great job - however, the culture disempowers employees and forces them to shape up (to the core values) or ship out. Rookie-O - a weeklong indoctrination camp disguised as an orientation - gives you a good idea of what's ahead. Lots of red tape for a place that claims to eschew it. Thank god that San Antonio is a warm place because the emperor is definitely naked.

Advice to Senior Management – Revisit the vague and subjective core values. Instead, start valuing experienced and competent technical contributors and leaders over pontificating do-nothings. I've never been at a company where technical contributions are so sorely ignored. And, I've never heard so much jargon in my life (especially in the RED organization). Typical management speak at Rackspace includes phrases like, "circling back," "cadence," "learnings," "thought leaders," "mentoring moments," "leadership sponsor," "reach out," "rockstar," and, of course, "fanatical." It's telling that the highest award at Rackspace is a straitjacket.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Rackspace full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – - Amazing People (Rackers are some of the best in industry)
- Awesome CEO. Lanham is fantastic
- Great culture and work environment
- You are given the opportunity to do your best every day
- Wonderful place to learn and be part of something great

Cons – - Abysmal pay bands. So far below the industry averages, its often incomprehensible
- Cost cutting in the wrong areas (facilities, healthcare, etc.)

Advice to Senior Management – Please pay your people what they are worth. Its one of the easiest ways to keep your best and brightest!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – I'm a technical employee. If you work in a customer-facing position, you can learn in months what would likely take years at a normal employer. Most of my colleagues over the years at the Rack have been very friendly, and openly shared knowledge with me.

I see other reviewers complaining about pay, but I know that my pay is absolutely fair. If you are good at what you do, work hard, and know how to sell yourself, you will be generally be rewarded for it. My income is not that far from being double what it was back when I started at the company, 5 years ago.

The company also promotes and hires quite a bit from within. I've been promoted twice to various technical roles based on my interest and the company having faith in me.

Most of the time I feel a bit spoiled... but in a good way... and that gives me incentive to make sure I do my part.

If you're thinking of working at the company, make sure you get decent starting pay. If you are insistent, and in demand, you will have some leeway here. Try to get a good feel for the team and your manager. I know that's a tough order when you don't even work there, but be creative.

Cons – There is a lot of dead-weight around, which is compensated by the true talent at the company.

Some of the managers at the company should not be managers. But to be fair, I've really only had 1 bad one out of the 4 I've had so far. I've heard some bad stories though.

I think the fanatical culture stuff that is imbued upon new employees is a little over the top.

Advice to Senior Management – Add a real tuition reimbursement program to our benefits, and constantly work to improve company benefits. A hit to the bottom line is minor compared to the talent we lose each year- so we must try harder to keep them.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Rackspace full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Rackspace has a strong sense of culture and is a very open and friendly place to work. People of all roles are very approachable and willing to assist.

Cons – Sometimes the feeling of being a slightly younger tech company (12 years old) can show. There are a couple isolated departments where it feels like some outside influence would be very helpful for providing direction.

Advice to Senior Management – Overall the management is doing a fine job of building a good tech company with engaged employees. Keep our focus on culture and engagement to keep people happy and in roles longer. I do worry about compensation not being on par with other companies as well as fringe benefits lacking in comparison to other big tech companies in the same metro areas as Rackspace.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Rackspace full-time for more than a year

Pros – -Good Training
-Good place to start
-Rapid growth
-Lots of room for progression as a Tech
-Secure job, no redundancies

Cons – -Management dont listen to line-workers
-Constantly coerced into overtime due to company growing fast and difficulty hiring.
-Slightly lower salary than competitors.
-Bad shift rotas
-Sales oversell solutions, way more than customers need, they are too incentivised by commision

Advice to Senior Management – -Pay your employees more to reduce churn
-Less middle management
-Dont overwork employees with overtime

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company