Google

Great compensation, amazing perks, and incredibly passionate coworkers.

While most companies claim people are their number one priority, Google is the only company I've worked at that actually delivers on this.

My wife almost cried when she learned about the generous paternity leave policy and the "death benefit" provided by the company if anything should ever happen to me. It's overwhelming to see an employer go so far above and beyond just to make their employees' families' lives better.

I won't say too much about pay other than that my total compensation this year will be 2.5 times what I received at my previous employer ~2 years ago as a Software Engineer.

Sometimes it's difficult for people who are used to being the "big fish" at their previous company to get used to the fact that they aren't the leader of the pack anymore.

Work/life balance at my old job was slightly better, but only because very few people had any passion for what they did, so everyone was out the door as soon as they hit 40 hours and never answered email after hours.

Don't get comfortable, keep pushing the boundaries.