Pros
I really like the people that I work with. They are very professional and are willing to go the extra mile to help out. Caterpillar is on the bleeding edge in some industries and sometimes that allows you to try brand new things. The benefits package is great. Let's face it not many companies still offer some kind of Pension plan. The tuition assistance is great. The jobs are challenging and there is great opporunity for career advancement ... to a point. The people at Cat make it a fun and great place to work. Management on the other hand seems to try to remove that as much as possible.
Cons
It's still a good old boys club. If you don't meet their specific background and personality, you will not be highly rated. The company stresses that it is no longer cyclical in nature, but every company will have it's cycles and Caterpillar is not immune to economic downturn. Management can be tough minded at times and demand things that make absolutely no sense even when the experts disagree with them. The management can be considered very militaristic in its style and should give some authority back to it's employees. The company is also full of red tape. This makes it difficult to do your job as often times you have to go through as much red tape as it would take to get the task done.