Intuit

People are hardworking but also easygoing. Most don't take themselves too seriously.

Ample free parking on site.

Quiet location in San Diego.

I worked on highly visible work for the company.

Opportunities to contribute to Intuit projects outside your team's responsibilities.

Onsite cafe. Though this gets old pretty quickly.

Good pay for contract work.

Name recognition will get you attention from other companies.

Good coffee and snacks available.

Happy hour events.

Modern office workspace.

The team I worked on followed good coding practices.

The management I worked with were highly competent individuals. They were essential to boosting productivity.

The contract I was on was 18 months long and very stable.

• Few opportunities for advancement as a contractor. Your best hope is to try and get a full-time position at the company, which can be rare, or find a full-time opportunity somewhere else.

• A lot of layoffs happened right before I left. So, the stability of your contract really depends on the team you end up with.

• I had to go to HR to report inappropriate comments that some of my colleagues made. Thankfully, my manager and the company handled the issues swiftly and seriously.

• The work that I did eventually became very dull and repetitive. I rarely did or learned something new beyond my assigned scope. I started to feel like I was limiting myself and, over time, I didn't really need to engage with my manager all that much, which left me feeling siloed.

• As a contractor, you're technically not a part of the company and cannot attend certain events hosted by Intuit. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, though.

Keep an eye on your high-performing contractors and bring them on full-time if financially possible. They can, and they will, leave for other companies that value them more than you do.