software engineer

senior software engineer

principal software engineer

machine learning engineer

program manager

Red Hat

I love most things about Red Hat.  

The culture is what every company aspires to.   It's the real deal, and not just something that's talked about by recruiters to get a warm body in the seat.  It's important to almost everyone at the company.

The openness is real and not just an HR slogan - from our source code to our business practices to senior leadership decisions.

The products we create are products that make a difference, are market leading and ones you can be proud of.   Virtually everything we do is open sourced.  That statement is pretty amazing to say for a 20k+ employee company.

This is  also the first company where I feel that management of all levels really cares about the employees.  You could see that with the response to COVID.  They made sure everyone was safe and taken care of.  They close offices quickly.  They gave a small allowance to create a home office to employees who needed it.  They added benefits to help with mental health (working from home can have quite an impact on the psyche for some).  They added a quarterly company-wide recharge day (everybody takes the day off to recharge)

Pay could be better, and more inline with other companies with the same prestige.  But, it's not bad, and actually above average.  Just not (nearly) as good as our competition.

But...  Things seem to be changing in the past year+.  Things aren't quite as open.  Answers in company meetings seem to have more "corporate speak" than in the past.  Layoffs for the first time ever (with no warning to anyone - I think that's what surprised people the most.)  (Yes, I get that companies have to resize due to economic conditions sometimes.  But if you had asked any RedHatter before the layoffs how they expected that it would be handled, they would not have described what actually happened.)

I hope this is just a "phase", and we course correct.  I'd hate for such a great company to become "just another" tech company.  Time will tell.


It takes a "Red Hat" kind of person to fully appreciate working at Red Hat. I am not that kind of person. I was surprised, and then not, when I saw a "Red Hatter" playing World of Warcraft in the office, and equally as much when the coworker I was with dismissed that completely. Most surprising was when I started my first task and a coworker looked over my shoulder and said "Oh, you are using <xyz> to do your builds." My response was "Yeah, that's what is in place already, why change it?" The response was more like "Why not change it?!" I soon realized that I could have rewritten the application in COBOL. The point is there is very little structure, little discipline about how things are done, at least in the group I was in. I guess I would summarize the experience by saying: "They really need some adults working there." Again, that was my group.

There are some very opinionated people at Red Hat, too, which I think goes along with the lack of adult leadership and the "do what you want" atmosphere. And I do mean opinionated - I got into an argument over NOTHING that lasted five weeks, I stood my ground so as not to set a precedent of getting walked on. It was ridiculous, but not everyone there is that way.

The Red Hat company culture is like a religion.  They constantly talk about Open Source like it is the only option for software development and hate any other business models.  I have worked in many technology companies in the past and never seen any company disparage their customers and competition as much as Red Hat.  They believe they are the only option a customer has for any software and talk about how stupid their (and competitor's) customers are.

Red Hat believes OSS is the source of all innovation despite that fact that Open Source is just a way to commoditize real innovation done elsewhere.  The company has never had a fresh product idea ever they just jump in front of any Open Source project that seems to be picking up steam.

Internally they are stale and unwelcoming to any new ideas that are brought forth.  Many of the employees are long timers and cannot understand new processes or productivity increasing technology that others new folks might bring up.

Overall it is a company that wants validation of it's approach and process even if it's proven to be broken.  Back stabbing, whining and corporate politics are the rule.

Be forwarned.  It's like 'the Witch's Candy House in Hansel and Gretel'  Looks great on the outside but before you know it you're in the oven.

Nothing is really typical about Red Hat consulting. Being a jack-of-all-trades is critical to succeed, as it is unlikely that you will be put on only projects based around one technology. It was not uncommon to be told to ramp up on certain things, only to be told a week later that plans changed, and instead you have a few days to learn a totally new thing.
The job pushes you quickly into responsibility, as it was commonplace to begin client interactions within days of starting. Definitely not a good job for the ultra-shy.
The managers in the West are great people. Always fun to be around, and they do listen. However, other consultants have gotten tossed under the bus when managers failed to adequately plan. Seems to not happen often, but it does happen.
Hardest part of this job can sometimes be the travel, some consultants have traveled for multiple months, but it is usually the constantly changing skillset that is hard. Sometimes, it can be difficult to really learn anything new, as constant switching between new things is required. Breadth, not depth. 
Great job coming out of college and gives good insight into the world of consulting. Pay is not great, quarterly bonuses don't make up enough of the difference in salary vs the rest of Silicon Valley. Highly recommended job for a college student to get their feet wet in consulting, but leaving after a year or two is fiscally responsible.

A day at the Tower was never the same. In the morning I collaborated with other engineers, before hitting the phones for a couple of hours, and then back to meeting with engineers. I learn to be a self-starter, to complete my tasks with little to no supervision. Management guided and assisted when needed, mostly all supervisors were approachable. My team was good at communicating and if I had any issues they were there when I had a question, really intelligent group of people. Some difficulties while working in GSS, was handling more than five cases, but sorting them by strategic, and non-strategic. The most enjoyable part of the job was learning more advanced functions in Linux, and boot camp training for the RHCSA. Not to mention the amenities, such as the game area (ping pong, foosball, pool table, and air hockey) the gym, video game room, and the free snacks and drinks. From my perspective, the amenities are just rewards for hard work and the culture of Red Hat.

Work-life balance
Team setting very helpful.

Pay & benefits
Contracting through a third party and their benefits were solid.

Job security and advancement
As a contractor I felt the need to work harder to keep my advancement and contract renewed every 3 months. Enjoyed the team culture and learned so much about agile methods.

Management
Always difficult as a contractor but manager, director, and executive team were supportive.

Culture
Teams worked across department via workshops to help improve collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams. I most liked the collaborative and transparent team culture there.

Overall
Like living in a big city such as New York, SFO, Boston, Philly, DC - was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Highly recommend working there in any capacity rather full-time or part time. The team Agile dynamics there were the best I have experienced anywhere. INVEST model for user stories was a core takeaway.

Craft, test, maintain, configure, and deploy Red Hat's Enterprise Software Modules for a myriad of Red Hat Clients in order to fortify and enhance their new and/or existing Enterprise Application Software Systems.  Red Hat Products are with respect to Open Source FOSS Software such as RHEL, JBOSS, Cloud, Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV), BRMS, etc.  Also responsible for assisting with corporate sales regarding the Red Hat product inventory suite.  Assisted with the installation and support of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV Manager and RHEV Hypervisor), along with Cloudforms/ManageIQ, in order to demonstrate, as a proof of concept, that when a myriad of fully functional RHEL Virtual Machines were running and managed within Red Hat's Cloud Environment, there was a dramatic improvement with regard to 'ease of use', performance, reliability, and control/management over existing systems.

Working at Red Hat has been an enriching experience that goes beyond the ordinary. The vibrant culture and open-source ethos foster an environment where collaboration is not just encouraged but ingrained in the fabric of daily operations. What sets Red Hat apart is the genuine commitment to innovation and the collective pursuit of excellence. The emphasis on open communication and the empowerment of every team member has created a workplace where ideas flow freely, and individual contributions are not only acknowledged but celebrated. The dynamic nature of the company aligns seamlessly with my professional aspirations, providing constant opportunities for learning and growth. Red Hat isn't just a workplace; it's a community of like-minded individuals driven by a shared passion for technology and the belief that collaboration can truly change the world.

I learned that I value consistency and structure in a workplace environment, especially regarding management and leadership which is lacking or non-existent in certain teams within IT. Workers were often overworked and understaffed with little advancement opportunities and promised things that were almost never fulfilled. Get in with the right teams and you may have a good experience. Collaboration among various teams and resolving issues completely was the most enjoyable and rewarding aspect of the job. Collaborating among my own team proved to be the hardest due to workplace culture, morale, and lack of professionalism.

Great company overall.  Good company to work at if you are in engineering or presales and you have the skills to excel.  Very much a meritocracy in those roles.

This is an engineering company first, and a sales/marketing company second.

If you work in sales, marketing, or channel mgmt you may or may not have long term success.  Goals are intense, timelines are short, pressure is high.  While all those things exist nearly everywhere, there are amplified here.  

Overall company culture is engineering focused, and as a result can take a dim view of non-engineering roles.  Value of non-engineering roles is often trivialized or scorned.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 86 salaries reported	$127,802 per year
Senior software engineer 133 salaries reported	$163,268 per year
Principal software engineer 89 salaries reported	$215,629 per year
Machine learning engineer 63 salaries reported	$230,522 per year
Program manager 6 salaries reported	$98,820 per year

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