City of San Jose Employee Reviews

Worked with a great team of professionals and worked to help people in need. The clients we served were treated with compassion and provided with the best care to get them to the next level.

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Solid Job

Senior Executive Analyst (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - August 29, 2023

I felt there was job security and steady pay increases in my department. I also appreciated that the City recognizes and gives time off for many holidays, much more than the average workplace. There is a 2-week unpaid furlough period during winter holiday, which was fine for me since I was able use my PTO and get paid during this period. I could see this being tougher for those that may not have accumulated enough PTO, or have already used it up earlier in the year. Health, dental, and vision insurance were included for my position. There are standard of living salary adjustments each year, and positions like mine included performance-based extra vacation days and % increases in salary. I was pretty happy with my salary, given that public sector jobs aren't known to be as high-paying compared to private.Sometimes your project priorities might get reshuffled because higher leadership felt reprioritizing was necessary. Depending on your supervisor, this might be a sudden and jarring experience. If you're able to "go with the flow" you should be ok. It can be a little frustrating at times, but some things are just outside your control.Things also take time to get done, which can also be a bit frustrating. It's part of working in government where there are specific rules and protocols that must be followed, hence all the extra time and effort for seemingly simple tasks like attending a work conference. You may not always feel supported by your supervisors, but there are ways to develop community at your job. There are dept colleagues, other City staff, and possibly even City -

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City of San Jose insights

Based on 65 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Ability to learn new things
Feeling of personal appreciation

Burn out on soul less task

Finance Intern (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - May 27, 2023

They will work you to the bone. It's either micromanagement or they completely forget about you. Different teams has different expectation but generally, 'tagging' team is the worst.

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Great Place to Work at - Great Pay, Great people

Recreation Leader (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - May 22, 2023

The City of San Jose has so many opportunities for all employees. The pay living wage so it is great pay, especially in the Bay Area. The people who work here are very nice and helpful and there are many ways to work up and grow. It is also a very fun job.

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Good work life balance

Inspector (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - April 19, 2023

Good work life balance. Good benefits. Good training. Good team members. Good management. Well known among other industries. On boarding was easy and good pay.

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Warehouse Associate (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - April 8, 2023

If you want a place to have longevity in then the ciry is the place to be because there is stability. It is hard for you the get fired there. If you get fired there then you must did something bad

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Great Place to Learn And Use Cutting Edge Technology. If You Have A Disability Don't Even Apply!

Network Technician (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - October 31, 2022

A Day At Work: Check voicemail on the server hotline and do callbacks, process helpdesk tickets, monitor and build virtual servers, troubleshoot failed backups. After lunch the pain from my sciatica would get so bad I Could Not Think.What I learned: I worked there for 22 years and as technology evolved, so did I. Started with NT and ended with WIN2022 server and hyperconverged network!Management:There are a few really good managers who really care and want you to succeed. There are alot of indifferent managers who just don't care. And there are a few really, really bad managers who will make your life miserable.Culture:Well it's government.Hardest Part of the job:Lack of training and a manager who did not like me and made my life miserable. And in the months before I retired I Had Developed Disabilities. Accomodations were promised, but in the end all I got was an Ergo keyboard and mouse.Most Enjoyable: Helping users and learning and using new technology as it evolved.

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Different opportunities

Rec Leader (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - September 19, 2022

Lots of different positions available as a rec lead. You get to explore different specialties. Hard to move up. Network and make friends with your supervisors or else you’ll never get anywhere.

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Okay. Benefits could have been better.

Library Aide (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - September 13, 2022

It was okay working here. The benefits could have definitely better, but you definitely feel a part of a team. I hope that they pay their employees a bit better.

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Great Place to Make a Career

Supervisor (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - September 2, 2022

Innovative work, friendly and motivated colleagues, great pay with annual raises (especially for environmental work and folks without college degrees), excellent work-life balance, unbeatable job security, and opportunity to try different jobs or move up within the City if you so choose.

Pros

Work-Life Balance, Security, Coworkers

Cons

Bureaucracy, Upper Management has been resistant to accepting post-COVID world

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Jobs at City of San Jose

See more jobs

Student Intern/Graduate Student Intern - Citywide

San Jose, CA

30+ days ago

Police Radio Dispatcher Trainee / Police Communication Specialist

San Jose, CA

30+ days ago

Police Data Specialist I/II

San Jose, CA

30+ days ago

Industrial Electrician - San Jose/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, Environmental Services Department

San Jose, CA

30+ days ago

City of San Jose Rehire Retiree - Citywide

San Jose, CA

30+ days ago

Great company to work for

Intern (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - July 2, 2022

I learned a lot as an intern. My reach was published 5 times in staff reports to city council. I learn community engagement, how to write public policy, project management, and housing development.

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Good but could be better

Recreation Leader (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - May 9, 2022

Good job if your full time. Limited hours for part time employees. You make good pay but not for living in the city you work in. Work experience is good but can be stressful depending on where you are placed because every location is different.

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good coworkers and work/life balance

Recreation Leader (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - March 15, 2022

not bad for a entry level work and there's always opportunity to move up. of course great co-workers help and make the job easier. plus giving back to the community always a big plus.

Pros

community, co-workers, and work/life balance

Cons

communication, no benefit, hours capped

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great work - life balance

Engineer (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - March 2, 2022

Interned here, learnt a lot, became close to my team, had a lot of good times. I will miss it, but I left because I wanted to see what else there is out there.

Pros

work - life balance

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Good company

Secretary (Former Employee) - Sacramento, CA - February 23, 2022

Lots of departments to promote to. Managers really listen to employees. Salary comparable. Benefits options could be better. Large networking ability.

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Alright

Recreation Leader (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - November 4, 2021

Overall, the city of San Jose pays good for what I do. However, sometimes parents rely on you too much. Leaders don’t answer on time. People come and go. It’s not a bad place to start off with but definitely not a forever job.

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Always learning something new & being able to cross train.

Front Desk Receptionist (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - October 28, 2021

Overall get to cross train into different departments & great pay, but unfortunately not that many hours. Can easily move up to a better position & eventually get benefits.

Pros

Great co-workers

Cons

No benefits, not many hours

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Very command and control oriented company

Information Technology Department (Current Employee) - San Jose, CA - September 11, 2021

Would t recommend to anyone that is career oriented. Very command and control oriented and prefers to play politics than to get any work done. Employees are told not to reach out to anyone that is above their pay grade and yet establish working relationships.

Pros

Benefits

Cons

Command and control culture; non-collaborative

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City of san jose

Puyallup (Former Employee) - Puyallup - August 11, 2021

i will keep it to myself, I did 24 years there. highly political environment.where theres a will there a way. i had a good time and made the most of it.

Pros

City of San Jose

Cons

City of San Jose

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Productive and fun place to work at

Recreation Leader (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - July 2, 2021

My time with the City of San Jose was wonderful. There is a lot of room for growth and a strong sense of belonging here. I loved every shift working there. There were a lot of opportunities for more hours as well!

Pros

Growth, fun place

Cons

Management can be a little impersonal sometimes

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Great student job

Therapeutic Recreational Leader (Former Employee) - San Jose, CA - March 13, 2021

Great place to work as a student. Fantastic staff and colleagues scattered throughout San Jose. But there is a lot more work politics involved as you climb up as with most corporate companies.