Intel

Intel is huge, but don't let that fool you. The technical people at Intel are generally highly driven and committed to making great technological advancements and creating products that people really want. There's really no better place to work if you want to do hardcore CPU or chipset architecture, or if you're into process engineering.

As a software engineer, there are many interesting projects as well, from working on Windows, Linux, and Mac internals (not just drivers!) to whole operating systems like MeeGo.

Career advancement is straightforward: generally, if you work hard and garner influence, you can achieve a principal engineer position after a while. And the pay is very good compared with other companies.

It has the downsides of most big companies:

• Crappy IT infrastructure (e.g., proxied internet access; this would be comical if it weren't so painful)
• Laptops (you absolutely need a top-of-the-line CPU and SSD to run all the crapware IT installs and still get work done)
• Fluffy corporate communications
• Poor information sharing between groups

The work environment is a bit soulless as well; drab cubes as far as the eye can see.

Finally, it can be quite competitive at review time; Intel very much subscribes to the Jack Welch school of management and reviews. The top performers get the vast majority of the raise budget, and poor performers are culled fairly aggressively.

Make it easier for people to get their jobs done: make internet access transparent, make it easier to collaborate on projects and share information. A SourceForge.net-like project tool for managing things internally would be an excellent way of doing this. Today, things are horribly fragmented, and it can be difficult to find the right person to talk to about any given issue. Get that stock price up!