Vantaggi
Co-workers make this company a job to really enjoy; they are smart, funny and seem to get along well with one another. Med/Dental benefits are also very good and it's obvious these folks work very hard to make sure the employees have good coverage for their families. Getting to play with cutting edge tech is always a bonus.
Svantaggi
Overall sense from employees that they are apprehensive and unwilling to speak up. Whether that is from a fear of having ideas shot down by upper management or losing a job, I don't know. But concerns brought up in 1:1 conversation rarely made it to team/company meetings or upper management. Communication from upper management can use some improvement. Specifically when it comes to sharing goals, company position (good or bad), development cycle/status/issues, critical issues and how you are doing as an employee. It's very difficult to gauge your own progress when you don't have a mechanism in place to ask questions about your performance. Yes there is the "open door" thing, but regular 1:1 (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings go a long way. Too often are senior managers in the trenches. Although this can be seen as a good thing in some organizations, I found that it seemed to inhibit staff from thinking through problems creatively themselves - "defer to Director of XYZ" then go push the buttons to complete the task. Change Management: essentially non-existent. See "Communication" above. Lack of upward mobility or career advancement; if i'm not mistaken, all of the senior staff have been there for a long time and will likely be there for a longer time. This means positions are pretty much stagnant and any possibility of moving up/out are slim-to-none. On the other hand, you can develop your own skills in various tech while utilizing members of other teams as mentors - as i've said, co-workers make this a great place to work and they are always willing to help.