Google

Well, it's Google. You get exceptional perks, including subsidized massages and gourmet food. The average intelligence level of employees is very high, and most of the technologies you work on are bleeding edge. The company tries to maintain an open information culture and keep people aware of what is going on.

I joined Google in 2005, Google in 2008, and Google in 2013 are three different companies.

The early years made Google the icon for the IT world, and it was respectfully so.

However, as the company grew, the engineer-centric and open culture began to disarray. The people (mostly in mid-to-senior management) that should have never been hired started to erode this culture.

Now, it is becoming more and more like other big corporations.

It is still a great company to work for and far better than most of what is out there, but comparing it to what it could have become...

Pay more attention to people's career paths within the company.

If someone is working on a "high value product," it is almost impossible to switch teams, especially if the team you want to go to is not HVP. Avoid bureaucracy as much as possible and worry less about what other companies do (like Facebook). Get back to "industry disruptor mode," in which Google excels.