Pros: You can really excel at the company. The company focuses on independence and managing your own contributions.

Cons: Review time can sometimes be a popularity contest, with peers rating each other. It’s fair, but silent contributions can be left unnoticed.

Pros: Good culture. Good culture. Good culture.

Cons: No such cons. No such cons.

Pros: Company culture here is really good to engineers. When I look around, most faces look happy. People are generally very helpful and give real answers to my questions, rather than brushing me off with 'read the documentation'. Annual bonuses are based strictly on a peer review process. This is really cool because you are rewarded not for sucking up to your manager, but rather by demonstrating your merits to your co-workers. Compensation is fair. And it doesn't hurt that the company as a whole is kicking butt, so stock prices are growing rapidly right now.

Cons: Headquarters is in the middle of nowhere in Santa Clara, so the commute from downtown is pretty bad. If you don't mind living in the burbs, this might not be a problem for you. And of course, network switching isn't exactly the sexiest industry to work in; my non-technical friends and family will never ever understand what I do for a living.