Vantaggi
People are genuine and care about your career and you as a person. Interesting work that can have serious impact to users. Generous bonuses and raises (although COVID and recent ESOP transition slowed both down). No cubes and because of COVID, the company has adopted a hybrid model. Travel opportunities for a lot of the projects (even international), flexible newly adopted "9/80" schedule, different focus areas of the business allow for a lot of variety in the work you do. The company supports conference attendance and makes it a point to encourage professional development. They have also been structuring more formal training for people who have leadership potential and interest in becoming project leads. Great place to work.
Svantaggi
No parental leave (although California has family leave), no 401k match. The "valley of death" is frustrating. It isn't unique to PSE but government work in general hasn't really figured out how to leverage all the good work that is done by companies like PSE and transition it to actual systems. Some great work is done and delivered only to be left and forgotten. Some of the projects have lots of "politics" due to government sponsors and different players that make the work stressful sometimes. Also, because most of the projects are gov contracts, there are funding delays that make projects stop or stall. It sometimes feels like communication from corporate doesn't flow down as quickly as it should in favor of a "perfect message". These are all workable cons but sharing in case they are deal breakers for people considering PSE. This next one is not unique to PSE but it is worth mentioning: The hybrid model may be difficult for new hires quickly assimilate and to get to know people without the benefit of "water-cooler" talk, but people are open and easy to talk to via teams.