I worked at HP in the mid nineties and left right when Carly took over. Working at HP was the first real job I ever had (real in that I didn't need other jobs a

I worked at HP in the mid nineties and left right when Carly took over. Working at HP was the first real job I ever had (real in that I didn't need other jobs and had health insurance, etc.) The people that I worked with were, for the most part, pretty serious about the company. When I decided to leave there was shock all around. It was the first and only time that co-workers approached me and said things like "Working here is really a career, it's not just another job. You should really think about staying." When I started, most of the people I worked with had been there at least five years and most more then ten. Several had been there their entire careers, starting off in entry-level positions and arcing up into management, then kind of descending into a holding pattern in my department (UX and MPE/iX platform support and management) until retirement. But even then things were changing. By the time I left I had five managers to whom I directly reported. One of those managers was fired, as far as I could tell, because he didn't agree with the other four; sadly they were the one that made the most sense to me. Certainly that wasn't the HP way. There was suspicion among almost everyone about Carly Fiorina, not so much because she was a women, but because she didn't rise from the HP ranks and likely would be unfamiliar with the "HP way". Even at that late date, the "HP way" was something people talked about even if it was fading away.