Pros
- Wonderful people and talented graphics engineers - C++, Python shop - Great work/life balance - Really cool perks. The wrap parties are a blast and the crew gifts are lovely. - It's great working with artists and other non-engineers so closely.
Cons
Full disclosure: I'm young and ambitious and it took me a while to finally learn that I should probably be working at a startup instead. - Way lower pay than other tech companies. I know one software engineer who was getting paid 75k a year. - No growth. Pixar hits the holy trinity of never getting promoted: 1) Great place to work for so no one leaves 2) Company is not growing at all nor does it have any ambitions to grow 3) Everyone wants to work at Pixar Because of that, the feeling of being stifled and underutilized is widely shared among everyone at Pixar. Even people who have been there 25 years can only move horizontally. The number of people who have been there and desperately desire leadership positions but can't get them even after 10 years at Pixar is depressing to see for someone like me. - It's very easy for engineers to simply coast. I know engineers there who are completely comfortable doing the same thing every day without growing and that behavior is actively rewarded. - Poor managerial feedback for how to grow as an employee. - There is a major fear with some teams that their engineers are going to leave for sexier teams inside Pixar which is toxic.