Anybody work for Level 3 in Broomfield? (Denver, Colorado Springs: environment, salary, jobs)

[GSXR]

My husband is looking at a possible move to the Broomfield area for a job with Level 3 Communications.

Anyone work for them? Any feedback on this company? Opportunities for advancement within the organization? Pay commensurate with the cost of living in the Denver area?

I am a University/state employee in Wisconsin. Are there state government offices in this area? Where are they concentrated? University Outreach jobs nearby?

I have not done a lot of research on my own yet regarding these questions, as he was just told about a potential opportunity yesterday. Sometimes you get a better feel for something, or more accurate answers, by just asking the people that have intimate experience anyway, so any help in answering these questions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance!

[dj32]

I do not work there, so this is all heresay...

they have a good reputation in Denver area, have had some ups and downs in the tech economy however, I feel they are relatively stable now. Very nice campus in Broomfield.

[steveindenver]

They tend to pay less than the competition; as a result the quality of your average employee is a bit lower. Your ability, at least in IT to get things done can be frustratingly political and slow

Given their history of acquisitions politics and land grabs are not all that uncommon.

They also have a reputation for frequently laying folks off.

[GSXR]

Thank you for the responses thus far. It would be telecom as opposed to IT. He has worked primarily with wireless telecom companies and wireless start-up companies, but this is a landline company. They seem to have a lot of jobs available. He has worked with them in his current contract with AT&T, which is why he was considering them when his current contract ends.

What other Telecom companies have a high presence there? Steve, you mentioned their competition. Were you referring to telecom or IT?

Thanks again for the input.

[GSXR]

Any additional feedback on Level 3 Communications? Wireless Network/Telecom jobs in Denver area?

[oldhorse]

I am a telecom professional and live in Broomfield. L3 would have been a great place to work for. But I would rather commute to Denver Tech Center, which 30 miles south.

I did work for L3 for a few months. The good side of company is that it has a very nice campus. It was built in the go-go years of the 90's when L3 had a lot of money. They actually have offices than cubes, even for entry level technical staff (2 per room). But that is all the good things I can say about this company.

L3 used to be a good company to work with. They had excellent technical people that built out a great optical/IP based network. But after they hired a bunch of people from MCI when Worldcomm/MCI was in turmoil, it started going down hill in terms all the work place politics. This is what I was told by a person that used to work there as a director. Before a major lay-off was announced, he would learn the news from his old MCI friends. To protect the people he had in his group (usually from MCI too), he would staff up with a bunch of people from other groups. By the time lay-off occurs, he would just shed the people he just hired.

This may explain the high attrition rate in L3. Except for short intervals of hiring freeze (usually after a bad lay-off), they are almost always hiring. As another person wrote, the pay is usually below average. The company would argue that they offer a bonus program and stock options. Well, that program might be good in the 90’s. But it has paid almost nothing in past few years.

Recently, they started exporting many jobs to Wipro: one of the big consulting firms in India. Many employees will need to train the Wipro people who are taking over their jobs. Of course, the company is saying that they will get better projects to work on. But really?
One of the Wipro managers told me that he would be able to replace a lot more American IT staff if he had been able to get more visas. So it is a matter of time, L3 will have more foreign workers than American ones.

In general, Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs have many Telecom companies, large and small. The ones that offers the best work environment is not necessarily from the big companies like Qwest, L3, Avaya, AT&T, or Verizon. You will find smaller companies that offer good pay and most importantly, interesting work. But to be honest with you, Denver still can not compete with larger metros like Atlanta, Dallas, Washington DC, etc. You must love the mountains to justify the move.

[Bradburn1]

L3 just had layoffs two days ago. A close friend of mine works there and she likes it for the most part. They are known for paying their IT people less than average and for having an unusual pay structure (lower annual salary which they say a bonus makes up for, which it doesn't always apparently--I'm not sure if this is still the way they do things though, that was a few years ago).

They are constantly hiring and laying off. Honestly I would be heasitant to move across the country for a job with them because of this--I feel the same way about Sun (Sun Microsystems) which is close to L3. However, there are a lot of IT and telecom jobs in the Denver area (even after the bust) so one could argue you could always find something else, it really depends on your husband's skill set, and how much you want to move to this area.

State government jobs are all over Denver, many in downtown. Lots of university jobs in downtown and also in Boulder. Hiring for both of those types of jobs is very slow (as in it takes forever usually to get through the hiring process, but I bet most govt jobs are like that).

Ideal location for people with your job skills would be Broomfield and/or Westminster. Both very close to L3, but also to many other telecom companies, and also close commuting distance to Boulder and downtown Denver.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

They tend to pay less than the competition; as a result the quality of your average employee is a bit lower. Your ability, at least in IT to get things done can be frustratingly political and slow

Given their history of acquisitions politics and land grabs are not all that uncommon.

They also have a reputation for frequently laying folks off.

Such is the case in all of the IT industry in the Denver area. DH has been laid off twice in his career, and got out just ahead once. He currently works for Polycom in Boulder, another telecom company. He hopes to stay there until our youngest graduates from college.

[Moving2CO]

Originally Posted by GSXR

My husband is looking at a possible move to the Broomfield area for a job with Level 3 Communications.

Anyone work for them? Any feedback on this company? Opportunities for advancement within the organization? Pay commensurate with the cost of living in the Denver area?

I am a University/state employee in Wisconsin. Are there state government offices in this area? Where are they concentrated? University Outreach jobs nearby?

I have not done a lot of research on my own yet regarding these questions, as he was just told about a potential opportunity yesterday. Sometimes you get a better feel for something, or more accurate answers, by just asking the people that have intimate experience anyway, so any help in answering these questions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

I am moving to Boulder in the summer and am looking for jobs out there and have come across this wonderful site called indeed.com and I see quite a few postings from Level 3 Communications. This site pulls jobs from all different sources so it's a one stop job search shop... I love it.
Take a look at this for example:
All business manager jobs in Boulder, CO | Indeed.com

[transport7]

If you really want to work for Level 3 Communications I advise moving to India and applying to WIPRO or Infosys.


WIPRO and Infosys are both hiring for current Level 3 positions held by employees in the United States.

Level 3 employees are getting RIFs or Reduction In Force letters.
Right before holidays such as Christmas is usually when Level 3 gives the most RIFs.