Ciena Employee Reviews

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3.9Work-Life Balance

3.8Pay & Benefits

3.1Job Security & Advancement

3.4Management

3.6Culture

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3.0

Good benefits, flexibility

Global Commodity Manager (Former Employee) – Saint-Laurent, QC – 19 December 2018

Overall good, has its ups and downs with regards to different management styles. Management changes almost every year, so you need to adapt to each new style and each one has his own preferences and requirements, not always in the best interest of the organization as a whole. Year end every year always brought layoffs which made it very unsettling to do an effective job.

Pros

work from home

Cons

long hours

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4.0

awesome experience, you will learn many cutting edge technologies in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

Software engineer Intern (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 15 January 2018

was an intern for one year at the new ottawa campus (kanata) and overall it was a great experience, so much stuff to learn from very talented and knowledgeable persons. Managers always try to find the best fit for your talents and what you eager to learn about. As a con I would say that people over there really work long hours (it was usual for me to be connected at 11 PM or so and see many of my team members online) and the salary doesn't necessarily takes that into account.

Pros

Work from home

Cons

Long hours

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3.0

Good place to work, poor career advancement opportunities

Lead Engineer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 18 December 2017

The work environment is great, smart people and flexible hours. However, the opportunities for career advancement are limited.

The immediate management team was great. They really cared about their employees and provided support where needed. However, upper management is more concerned with the bottom line to the detriment of other aspects of the company.

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5.0

True Industry Leader

Agile Project Manager (Former Employee) – Kanata, ON – 13 March 2018

Cutting edge innovation and technology, both from the perspective of the product lines and R&D environment. A place full of energy and striving for excellent.

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2.0

Good people, questionable leadership

Software Engineering Manager / Software Designer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 9 December 2016

Aggressive expansion (hiring, new programs, new buildings) based on exaggerated market forecasts leading to eventual layoffs. Lack of advancement leads to good people leaving, those that remain often not motivated. Ridiculous sick day policy.

Pros

good people, new equipment, interesting work

Cons

lack of training, little advancement, questionable leadership

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5.0

Productive , fast phase and fun work place

Quality Assurance Analyst Internship (Current Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 11 October 2015

The management is extremely supportive and patient. All questions are welcomed. The team members including the manager is approachable at any time for any enquires.One-on-one team meetings are conducted by the manager every week to keep the team updated with all the upgrades within the company and relevant to our team's work. During this team meetings any concerns regarding the assigned job is also discussed.Monthly team outings also take place where the team bonds. The company also provides lunch the entire week. In addition the company has a gym for the employees which encourages physical activity.

Pros

Lunch, gym

Cons

Fast phase

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5.0

Excellent culture but difficult to advance quickly

Global Product Support Engineer (Current Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 20 May 2015

Ciena has grown rapidly in recent years and their portfolio of customer is one of the stronger in the industry.

Work-life balance is of the utmost importance.

It is difficult to advance in current position because there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, such as management, waiting on senior employees to leave or retire, and how much knowledge you can absorb and quickly apply to outshine colleagues. There is something new to be learned everyday, which is a pro and a con. Job is fairly secure but compensation is on-par or below industry standards because they are not a highly profitable company.

Pros

Work-life balance is the best in the industry.

Cons

Compensation is very low.

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4.0

Opportunities to advance

Metro Ethernet Network Software Designer (Current Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 16 June 2015

Ciena is a good company to work for in regards to people, company culture and challenge.

The most enjoyable part of my job is the opportunities to provide solutions for our innovation technology/products. The hardest part is to deliver the brand new product in very short software development circle.

Pros

Nice office environment, opportunities to advance

Cons

Tide deadline

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5.0

Excellent Import/Export COmpany

Quality Assurance Team Leader (Former Employee) – Leader, SK – 16 December 2014

Work experience is great with this company as it gave me the oppurtunity to lead a business end to end. ANother great experience was teh ability to explore other business internationally and mange their requirement and requests effectively. Small company but was able to accomplish a lot internationally while benefiting business in homeland.

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4.0

Not a bad place to work

Product Verification Engineer (OME) (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 1 June 2012

Hectic schedules, hands-on learning, Management fair,
co-workers mostly willing to share information
Hours and weekends are expected
Thrown into the fire quite often with expectations to learn product and features on the fly
The challenge of learning new technology

Pros

nice building, free parking

Cons

long hours, weekends expected ( without compensation )

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4.0

Developemnt of interesting products

Software Engineer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 11 December 2014

I really enjoy working at BNR because this is a company that develop several product lines that somehow connect and communicates with each other. I liked projects where you would see a beginning phase, development and release to outside customers where you had a role to play in contributing to the overall project.

Pros

Interesting works

Cons

Managements

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4.0

Really good, but wasn't there long enough to really jugdge

Intern Programmer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 11 April 2016

I worked on contract at Ciena, and for how long I was there it was a fine place to work. However, I was always busy so I rarely had time to chat. I'm sure it's likely different for full-time employees, but I just worked a bit and then went home.

Pros

Good working atmosphere, easy to get work done

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5.0

Excellent Company to work for.

Benefits Associate (Current Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 23 December 2016

Great work life balance, lots of opportunities for training and personal development.
Great Benefits. Love my co workers, every one works well together.
I love helping the employees who need support and understanding about their personal leave requirements for various reasons.

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5.0

A good company to work for if you get in

Unix Support (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 12 June 2017

It is a good company to work for if you get a job there as an employee. I work as contractor, I am in to do my work and out to go home. So, not really much to say ....

Pros

Relaxed environment

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4.0

Focused on restructuring to meet future technologies.

Senior Software Engineer / Software Developer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 27 January 2015

Management is very project focused. Processes and tools used are continuously changing. Strong team work within teams.

Pros

Strong team work within teams.

Cons

Training

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5.0

A productive R&D company with a strong business drive

Program Manager (Former Employee) – Ottawa, On – 9 December 2014

Ciena is a leader on the latest optical telecommunications technology, and has the business sense to apply this technology to the advantage of their customers.

Pros

Ability to work from home

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4.0

Management updates regularly

Manufacturing Engineer (Current Employee) – 307 Legget Drive , Kanata, Ontario – 6 June 2014

I have worked and many places and I find Ciena is upbeat and the management keeps the staff informed of good things as well as bad things.

Pros

Close to Home

Cons

I am contract, wish I was full time

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3.0

Good product

lead software engineer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 16 November 2016

- good work balance
- co-works are very friendly
- schedule is reasonable
- vacation plan is very good
- company culture is good
- no job training
- too many meetings
- no sick day pay

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1.0

good

Supply Chain Associate (Former Employee) – Montréal, QC – 29 July 2015

Fun work place with supportive management. Not all about the numbers but how you personally grow and develop. Decent amount of red tape and politics, but this is expected of a big company.

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4.0

Pretty good company to work at

Network Management Software Engineer (Former Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 17 November 2014

I enjoyed my time here, but was pretty shocked when many valuable employees where laid off.

Pros

friendly

Cons

lots of work

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3.0

Job was unrewarding mentally

Data management internship (Former Employee) – Ottawa, On – 12 January 2014

-Learned how large companies store data, manage internal information and communicate between departments.

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