Pros: Solid leadership, the best I've seen so far.

Cons: Contract companies add a layer of middle management that makes things annoying at times.

Pros: You can live abroad in countries where prices are lower. You get paid in USD while spending in weaker currencies. Work on impactful projects. First level tech company. Work with highly skilled and experienced engineers and learn from them.

Cons: Much instability for contractors. The contracts are short-term, and every 3 months there is a chance to be cut. They try to have a good culture, but they still have much to improve. No chance of career development for contractors. Work equals pay; no work equals no pay for contractors. If you are sick, you will not be paid, the same for vacations.

Pros: For Austin, the stock compensation is best in class (RSUs and ESPP). Benefits were good: PTO, sabbatical, a decent 401k, and decent medical. Nice office space with a walking path, gym, and lots of windows for light. At the end, PayPal was a great place to explore new technology and take it from idea into production. Very solid support teams (DevOps, etc.). There were a few tough and long nights dealing with releases or production issues, but the process improved to where releasing code was always smooth and quick. Very thorough pre-testing of production releases.

Cons: The biggest con was being in Austin. The original CEO was Scott Thompson, who supported and championed the site. After three CEO changes, there is no senior management at the Austin site, and for the most part, everything is controlled out of San Jose. I don't think the site will last much longer, as the interest in Austin seems to be waning.