Vantaggi
I always wanted to work for Schlumberger, ever since I graduated from college. Finally, after many years in the industry I managed to secure a nice position in Texas. It is truly an international company, with lots of different fields of expertise, many challenges and good benefits. The training was distracting but I didn't mind (Schlumberger University). The Sugar Land campus is so beautiful, the bank is right there and the commute was fantastic. It was hard to leave after all those years in the same department... not.
Svantaggi
Poor leadership and few opportunities for advancement. The best of the best are hired in and then immediately pigeon-holed into A, B and C employees (D employees are on their way out). On the leadership front, it went like this: someone comes in from another country to become section head or department head (typically these people were promoted outside of the US). These supposed "leaders" try to make their mark by suggesting a number of awful projects in order to continue to be promoted later on to new positions in foreign lands. Once their work visas run out, they move on to the next cushy expatriate job. In the meantime, the rest of us are left behind supporting poorly managed projects. I guess I got lost in the system having worked in a single department for years with no grade promotions and only meager salary increases-not even cost of living increases. Wait, here's the last drop. They decide to "trim" the workforce by laying off people with dozens of years of experience all over the campus. Most of those long-time contributors were asked to leave on the spot one fine day. Talk about morale enhancement. Needless to say, not wanting to be on the next casualty list, as soon as an opportunity came along I left.