Pros
Once had a friendly, casual and creative atmosphere. Job perks included easy access to company vehicles for project travel AND work commuting. Company once also valued the talent of its more senior and technically skilled workers. The subsidized vending machines were pretty cool too.
Cons
All of the above (with the exception of the vending machines) were eliminated when the company went public. Several Senior Engineers at that time were eliminated for reasons never disclosed (assumed to be to reduce cost as they were replaced with 20-something college grads and temp workers). Just as terrible was the fact that the brain-drain of skills and knowledge caused by the ‘downsizing’ was never acknowledged; as a result, significant projects completely derailed. Sr. management never replaced the talent that had been responsible for continuing work on those projects. When the projects came due, the 'downsized' employee names were still assigned to the projects. It had to be the worst case of denial I've ever encountered. Annual raises were halted and seemed to be replaced with upper management approval of blatantly incestuous favors being exchanged (Sr. Engineers being allowed to hire their girlfriends to work for them, relatives hiring relatives, etc.).
