Vantaggi
The chairman's policy is that you should be smart and be able to make the right decision, instead of being by-the-book and following rules and directions. "Do what YOU think is right.". Thinking out of the box is somewhat encouraged. Good middle management as well, at least those who I have to work with. The atmosphere is mostly friendly and not too uptight. Rather relaxed in fact. You can strike up a conversation with your boss during lunch on something totally not work-related. Even the CEO can occasionally come down and have a casual talk with the code monkeys. There is little pressure, at least I find working here more relaxed than grad school. Colleagues are usually willing to help. There is diversity in what you get to work on. Software, hardware. You get a main project but you get to do various different things every day. Very good job security. A lot of people work here for over 20, 25, even over 30 years Fun corporate culture. Like, really. If you want to work only 40 hours a week - you will probably be able to do so most of the time. Overtime is occasionally needed, but very rarely are you pushed to work late. And usually management isn't going to ask many questions if you want to take a day off now and then, as long as you get your work done and either put in PTO or compensate by working more on other days. The company is actively growing as of 2015. I expect a lot of positive changes within the next years. At least quantitatively.
Svantaggi
The salaries are somewhat on the lower half of the spectrum. A bit. The stress is also lower than what I perceive as the average, so that's not too bad. The development process can be a bit disorganized. The company is growing quickly the last few years, and there are growing pains: many processes are changing, stuff gets out of synch. Then sometimes there's a task that has to be done but A thinks it's B's job, B thinks it's C's responsibility, and C has no clue about it at all. Sometimes the people needed to get something done are overseas, or unreachable for days, for whatever reasons. Working remotely doesn't work. You have to be on site to get anything done. Sometimes lots money is wasted on useless stuff, and then budgets are tight for stuff that is really needed for labs, etc.