Pros: Collaborative culture. Benefits are decent, including a generous 401K match (50%) and things like yoga classes, tai chi classes, and aerobic classes.

Cons: Seating arrangement is moving to an open office plan. We are switching to an "unlimited vacation" policy. The engineers who like to design and create products are leaving the company in droves now that growth seems to be tapering off. The folks who are still around are more into "leadership" and "mentorship" than doing real work. This creates a vicious cycle where the engineers who like to push stuff take on more and more and eventually realize that they might be better off at a startup. All in all, the things which made LinkedIn a great, fun place to work are going away. I think it might have something to do with the fact that our profits are minuscule and continuing to eke it out at our size is a challenge for current management.

Pros: It used to be a great company, where we had to deal with fascinating search and analytics challenges. After the IPO, lots of talented engineers and managers left, making the whole environment much worse.

Cons: My manager asked me to notify them in advance if I intended to leave. I gave six weeks' notice and asked if I could use a part of that time for parental leave. They terminated my employment immediately. The manager told me the reason for the early exit was that I was going to work for their major competitor. It seems some people had brought Yahoo's worst practices to LinkedIn. Now I'm feeling stupid for giving early notice.

Pros: * Pay is good. * Food is decent. * You do not have to do much (if any) work. * With only mediocre people around you, rising in ranks is easy (though requires lots of politics).

Cons: * Nothing to learn, except maybe politics. * Engineers around you are mostly mediocre (at best). * Technical management usually consists of people who are technically incompetent. * Management structure is very deep. Every tiny bit of functionality is factored out into a separate team, with its own management structure. * Fix the culture. Technical culture is non-existent here. Your engineers should be smart and bold, not the reverse (which they are right now).