Pros
Many smart, nice, "fire in the belly" folks remain in San Francisco, but the BGI days are long gone. Work-life balance is ok, but I was never a PAG analyst. Adequate health/vacation/401k benefits.
Cons
- Perl is considered strategic. cgi-bin is a plus. - Many critical C++ systems were written 10-15 years ago, and those developers are now the senior IT management cadre. Good luck attempting a critique of current systems. - Essentially impossible to add a column to a database table, so ad-hoc name-val structures are pressed into service in preference to relational schema evolution. - 1-3% annual salary increase - NYC management arguably inferior to the former SF/BGI management. - Lame Christmas parties, consisting of beer/wine/finger food, at the office, 4-6pm. The lack of humor is dispiriting.