Nokia

I worked at Nokia Here in Chicago.

Working at Here, you get to solve problems that are relatively unique. Instead of implementing yet another website or REST service, you get to work on large datasets, distributed batch processing, and real-time processing.

They offer a competitive base salary.

As an engineer, you will have basically no say about what applications you will build or how you will build them. There are so many managers, architects, QA people, "scientists", product owners, and scrum masters that the people actually building applications for customers are a small minority and are often told that their jobs are not to design systems, but to implement designs created by everyone else.

Have an idea about how to improve? You are allowed to suggest it to a lead, who may or may not put together a presentation for managers and architects, who may or may not listen to it. If they do listen, they will take a vote, in which you, the person who built the system and is responsible for fixing bugs and being on call, will not participate. If the vote passes, they will redesign your system because, remember, you are an implementer, not a designer.

There is a common misconception that is strong within Here that engineers are all propeller heads, don't understand customers, and don't know how to talk to customers.

Also, like many companies in Chicago, perks and benefits are slowly eroding. 401k matches exist, but are vested, and health care is expensive and lacking in coverage.

Engineers don't write code.

We design and build systems.

Put trust in your engineers to do their jobs.