Pros: The Location (New York, NY). Free snacks and fruits at the pantry. Perceived brand value in the job market. Networking with other people. The finance courses (most of them taught by Stuart Veale).

Cons: If you are a person who likes to be an independent contributor, technologically focused, and be given some free rein on your projects, or if you are a decent programmer who expects a disciplined approach to programming (most of the code is haphazard and difficult to maintain), this company may not be for you. Bloomberg has many ridiculous bottlenecks that would make any sane programmer cry with agony. I'm not understating this; you can get hints from all the reviews before mine. These bottlenecks/annoyances are not just in your day-to-day development but also while you are in the building. The badge-in/badge-out, the security making rounds around the office who stop you and sternly ask to wear your badge, even while you are just going to get a coffee in the pantry (I've had to literally go back to my desk to get it). I encourage you to visit the premises and talk to existing employees beforehand to get an idea of what you are getting into. There's no proper cafeteria area to eat your food. The running joke was that the bigwigs expect you to eat at your desk, so you will be around to be called upon by your manager/peer during that time. You might end up in teams (from what I've learned, this is most of them) where there is rampant micromanagement, including hints dropped about you being expected to work on weekends/late hours to meet an arbitrarily set, extremely tight deadline, even for internal projects. I believe that the "thought worker" who takes pride in his/her work cannot thrive in cultures like Bloomberg.

Pros: Bloomberg is full of opportunities for people to learn about a variety of fields. The fact that Bloomberg's main business is finance allows you to learn about it, if you have an interest, which I found incredibly valuable. Also, given the many Bloomberg verticals, there are tons of opportunities for mobility within the company, which are also great learning opportunities.

Cons: Be sure to pick the right team. As in any big company, there are lots of good people, but there are also some teams which you want to avoid. Make sure to pick well.

Pros: Free food, flexible work hours (if you do not work in trading systems), corporate perks, and a health benefits package.

Cons: Backstabbing. Managers behave like dictators with no accountability throughout the chain of command. Outright lies on performance reviews. Performance is proportional to sycophancy. The culture of meritocracy and fairness is being systematically dismantled. Basically, a H-1B sweatshop. Blame the person you don't like instead of the real culprit and get him/her fired.