Pros: Pay is good, and if you show up on time and write tidy programmer's notes, you'll never get fired.

Cons: Utter stifling of creativity and innovation. You're required to detail all time spent in programmers' notes. Try putting in some notes about thinking about the big picture. It would be comic if not sad that humans are expected to work and act as automatons -- and dumb automatons at that, impervious to the fact they're being talked down to at every minute. I've watched really smart people who needed the money become shadows of their own selves. Oh, and not to mention: the technology is antique.

Pros: Bloomberg has a lot of money and a software community.

Cons: Sweatshop, a harsh, unforgiving environment.

Pros: Good employer with good work ethics. Good work-life balance. Flexi-hours. Free snacks. Good rates for contractors. Work-from-home option for full-timers.

Cons: It depends on the team. You might end up doing clerical work day by day, i.e., copying files, checking files, etc., which within a year will lead you from programmer to zero grammar. Everything is done around the terminal, and it's very difficult to persuade managers to go open source or third-party. Lots of lads are on H1B, and 'fly under the radar' is a common term, but I guess that is across all tech companies in the US.