Pros: Pays well. The cash bonus is nice. ESPP and 401k match, too. Well-established processes make the build and check-in process easy.

Cons: Politics are insane. A few key individuals with terrible instincts and 1990's technology skills rule the day. For the past 18 months or so, there has been a senior talent exodus as poor technical decisions are forced upon people. They must choose between a nice-paying job and their happiness. If you can carve out a niche, you can survive for a while, but eventually, you will need to conform. If you are happy there and see no problems, stay there because you'll fail all interviews at any other up-to-date companies.

Pros: - Good benefits - Brand Name

Cons: - New middle management is threatened by their high performers. They don't value work or company growth. - A lot of bad politics is impacting the culture and will show up in the long run.

Pros: This company is growing and has rightfully earned many accolades. The benefits are fantastic, and you'll earn a lot of money if you're smart, motivated, and get things done. One key piece of advice that I have is to be proactive about your career. It can be tempting to code all day long, but you'll need to take a step back every now and then to chart your course over the next several releases to get ahead and stay in control of your career. If you don't, then others may put you into a direction that you might not like. Take charge and make your case to others, and resources will flow to you if others agree with your vision. That actually ties in well with my next point. Every year, each of us must create a "V2MOM," which is Marc Benioff's method of distilling down what you want to do over the next year from both a high level and from a detailed level. You start off with a single vision, list your values, determine the methods that will realize your vision, identify the obstacles that may prevent you from realizing your vision, and create metrics that can measure how you know when you've realized your vision. Many people secretly blow it off and just copy their managers' V2MOMs, but if used properly, it really can make a difference in your own career. As one of the leaders had said, you get from it what you put into it. If you really embrace and use the V2MOM, you'll go far both at work and in life. The culture increasingly uses the V2MOM in its decision making and resource allocations. But don't worry; it's not a cult or anything remotely like that. Salesforce.com invests heavily in its employees. From the high-end office space to comfortable interiors, generous benefits, and a firm commitment to meeting and exceeding workplace fairness, policy, and procedure rules and laws, anyone can be free to be themselves at Salesforce.com and do the best work of their lives. I know I am :). I'm an openly gay male, and that has never been held against me (as far as I'm aware, at least).

Cons: I hear that politics and such exist at the higher levels, but that's fortunately not very visible at the individual contributor level. If you have a good manager, you don't hear of such things, and you get to just focus on your work and career. So perhaps this is really a "pro" rather than a "con." Priorities can and do shift regularly. It's really a part of the nature of software development. Top-down changes of direction can and do occur, though most have been huge successes. If you want a place where you go off into a corner and code on one thing for months or years, then Salesforce.com is not the place for you. Everything is collaborative, and you must be able to work well in a team. If you don't, then you'll hopefully learn quickly :-). Work-life balance can be difficult to achieve if you are eager to help everyone who comes your way with questions. It's really a matter of self-discipline to achieve a work-life balance, and it's almost all within your control.