I've been in the workforce for almost 30 years. I've worked at a couple of Fortune 500 companies, some startups, and as a consultant. I've been truly blessed to learn from some amazing managers, co-workers, scientists, and engineers. Not one of these people worked at BMC. I have left every single job I've been at with a good amount of notice, and worked hard to finish strong during my transition. I never wanted to burn any bridges, and this includes BMC, so I'm hesitant to sound like sour grapes with how scathing this will turn out to be.
At best, the BMC Corporate office was like the Island of Misfit toys. The majority of the people were absolutely miscast in their roles. The majority of the IT managers when I worked there had never even been in IT--their careers were based in Accounting, or Sales. None of them exuded any sort of leadership. None of them were innovative. Most of them hadn't ever worked outside of BMC. My thought is that those that couldn't get jobs outside of BMC during the bankruptcy are the ones that stayed. And got promoted? Unreal. A few of the managers did have actual It experience, but they were completely miscast in the roles they were in. Technical people who were terrible leaders and had no idea how to interact with people were put in positions of high management. People with no previous infrastructure background were given management roles. When you have no clue at your current role, I would think you would at least hire people that you can trust to fill skills beneath you, and then let them do it. In IT, the running joke was that the CIO wanted no one smarter than them to be able to question their ineptitude. This flowed down. None of the rest of the business leaders seemed to be able to see through it as well.
It wasn't just IT either. I know good solid smart people when I see them. BMC didn't have any of them. Again, this sounds like sour grapes. But it is not. I am thankful for my time there. I learned a lot, and met some nice people, but their hiring and management and HR are decades behind, which is probably when people started working there.
An HR manager at BMC had the skill and drive level of a beginning associate everywhere else I have worked. If the best and brightest organization I have worked at is the equivalent of a major league baseball team, BMC is single A short season, at best.
I will not even get into the complete absence of C-level leadership or vision of the corporate office. You wouldn't even know you worked for a wood products holding company if you didn't do the research. I also won't attempt to break down the moving of the corporate office to Atlanta. I understand business and change and layoff and tough breaks, and what the Boise job market is like, but I've never seen such a poorly communicated, non-professional, impersonal, backhanded, sly, uncaring, spineless, self-serving C-level presentation.
With the Stock merger (all stock options, as I understand) who just so happens to be HQ'd in Atlanta, we see the plan of the CEO coming to fruition. I just hope the leadership and talent at Stock can wear off on BMC folks and the good employees get good opportunities. I can't wait for the Stock reaction when they meet BMC leaders, and say "You're an HR manager--is this the only place you've ever worked?". Or "You're an infrastructure manager"? Just using those as examples, of course.
For the last time, this absolutely sounds like a parting shot. It may be, but I'm now two jobs removed, and I still am amazed by what I saw at my time there. I wish all of the people in Boise at BMC the best of luck, and hope the merger provides new opportunities.
If you have to get a paycheck, a job at BMC is infinitely better than nothing. However, if you want a career, you'll quickly understand that this step will easily serve as the worst, most ludicrous, backward organization you'll ever work for.
