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A fast rise, a faster fall In 1982, French computer programmer Philippe Kahn lost his job at Hewlett-Packard because he lacked the necessary American work papers. Undeterred, he and his friends created Turbo Pascal, a program that facilitated programming in the Pascal computer code. Kahn then founded Borland International to market the program, and an advertisement in Byte magazine netted 100,000 orders that first month. A relatively small company until the mid-1980s, Borland began acquiring other software companies, increasing revenues, and enlarging its product line to include database software. In the late 1980s, Borland introduced its popular Quattro Pro spreadsheet and Turbo C++ programming software. And yet by 1996, the company was losing money, and Kahn was unceremoniously dumped from the company he founded. Man on the move The company has been in a bit of a fix for the past few years. In April 1998, the corporate software supplier grandly announced a corporate rebaptism complete with a new name and growth strategy. Dismal quarterly performance in 1996 had led to Kahn's departure, but new CEO Del Yocam had a plan for turning the company around. The 1998 plan called for changing the company's name from Borland International to Inprise. The company, known for selling programming languages such as Delphi and Borland C++ to individual programs, turned instead to systems integration and software services - two moneymaking services directed at corporate clients. Hey, where'd the boss go? The plan seemed to be working well enough. Inprise had begun to rebound by licensing its Java and C++ software development technology to Oracle, a beefy competitor. But then, on March 31, 1999, a day after Inprise's 1999 first quarter ended, Yocum and his chief financial officer abruptly tendered their resignations. The company said the resignations had nothing to do with the company's performance, but Yocum and the CFO, Kathleen Fisher, declined to give specific reasons for their departure. Dale Fuller was appointed interim CEO. Yocum's move comes on the heels of Imprise's fourth quarter 1998 layoff of 190 employees - or about 20 percent of its workforce. The pink slips in January were accompanied by a split in the company. The half responsible for producing programming languages resurrected the Borland name in Borland.com. The other division kept the Inprise name. Borland.com continues to develop new software, and in 2000 released Borland C++Builder4, an updated version of Inprise's old C++ system. Many users are said to prefer Borland's software to that of chief competitors Microsoft and IBM Corp.
The company's employment Web pages, located at www.borland.com/about/hr and www.inprise.com/about/hr list job openings and gives applicants the opportunity to e-mail resumes. Successful applicants are generally contacted for interviews three to six weeks after submitting their resumes. For those who get invited for an interview, expect a relaxed interview process involving four or five employees who will ask questions, either singly or in groups. Interviews last about three to four hours and may include lunch. Be warned, however, that Inprise laid off a large percentage of its workforce in January and may not be hiring in the near future. One experienced insider remarks, "I don't believe the company is hiring right now considering the fact that we just went through a restructuring and lost 20 percent of the work force."
Ch-Ch-Ch-Challenges Inprise has cut its payroll and experienced financial trouble during the last decade, causing no small degree of concern among employees. "The job is a real challenge because we have limited resources but endure comparisons with Microsoft," notes an insider. "Right now the mood is very somber because of the restructuring," remarks another. "We miss our co-workers who lost their jobs. If we pull through this rocky time, I'll be happy to stay. If things don't work out for the company, I will have enjoyed the opportunity to have worked here as long as I have." Wanna go swimming? Like many high-technology firms, Borland has an "informal" corporate culture. "There is no dress code here. Blue jeans, T-shirts, and shorts are common apparel," reports an insider. Employees also praise the "campus" that includes two tennis courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and other "top-notch" health facilities. They do add, however, that "the facilities are twice as big as we need at this time." As for the perks, an informant says "Inprise also provides periodic bonuses to R&D employees and stock options. The company is very family-friendly. They provide child care on days when children are off from school and we [the parents] have to work."
Human Resources (408) 431-1598
Client/server development tools;Database software;Computer programming software
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