Google

First and foremost, smart people. Overall, I'm very impressed with the level of intelligence of just about everybody I worked with.

Second, huge datasets, huge scale, huge opportunities. Google is the place to be for working at scale, period. The tools are great, and there are limitless computing resources.

Other stuff: It's still a fun environment, with flexible work hours and flexibility about projects to work on.

Lots of flexibility on what to work on, but the downside is that management controls the launch process. It's likely that your project may not be allowed to launch without several revisions.

Engineers used to own most product decisions, but things have shifted towards product management and upper management. Nobody seems to own broad strategic decisions; there's a strategy vacuum in many product areas.

Compensation is good, but obviously the equity situation doesn't compare to what you'd get at a proper startup. For this reason, entrepreneurs and people with big ideas are advised to look elsewhere if they have an appetite for risk/reward.

Stop hiring engineering middle-managers from outside, and promote more from within. If I had been more strongly pressured to move to management about 2 years ago, I'd probably still be a Googler.

The engineering ladder sounds like a good idea, but in practice, there is a ceiling that cannot be broken unless an engineer happens to be on the right project at the right time. When I realized this, I was sorry to have spent several years not being promoted when I could have switched to the management track and learned new skills.

Please communicate a clear and consistent strategic direction, and give us total support to execute on that strategy. Outside of search and ads, there is no agreement among the executives and other stakeholders, and this puts the product and engineering team in an impossible situation.