MathWorks

1. Not many deadlines that are hard.

2. Flexible time – you can come in and leave when you want. But this really depends on your manager.

3. Almost nobody gets fired. You have to screw up in a big way for a long time (at least in my area).

I am an immigrant and here are cons:

• Many entry-level employees join through EDG, which is a really bad place to start. They do not apply for a green card until you move out of EDG.
• EDG is very inflexible and does not have immigrant-friendly policies. You do not even get to take your vacation days when you want.

Once you are out of EDG, it gets a little better flexibility-wise, but the following are still big flags for me:

• No work from home whatsoever for new employees or new parents. You need to have a good manager who will allow work from home, and this policy is very inconsistently interpreted throughout the company and at different levels of seniority.
• This is a private company. Upper management is treated much differently than anybody with less than 10 years of experience.
• Hardly any junior employee gets promoted based on merit. The company is run like an oligarchy.
• Processes: There are long and arduous processes for everything, and even a simple project takes years to complete.
• Design review feedback: You will be made to present your technical designs using PowerPoint to a room full of stakeholders (senior managers). This is usually followed by useless feedback. Every little thing is micromanaged by the senior management.

Even a small feature can take multiple design review meetings. There are processes around getting meeting slots and inviting participants. There are dry runs for the presentations (sometimes more than one).

All in all, it is a lot of effort for some feedback that is not worth much. It is quite frustrating.