Siemens

The research scientists and software engineers are top-notch and sought after by the likes of Google, Amazon, etc. They are hard-working, very smart, and willing to share what they know.

The atmosphere is a relaxed one. Pressures come and go, but in general, it allows for a very enviable work/life balance.

This company is billed as the American hub of R&D innovation for Siemens, serving software-intensive R&D and consulting to other Siemens operating companies. Depending on which area you work in, this might actually be true. If you're into factory automation or imaging, then it is true. (Although medical imaging has been spun out to a different company.) It might even hold for big data and hardware condition monitoring.

But for some of the other groups, it is not true that innovation is supported as strongly by upper management.

Many groups are run from the parent company in Germany, which could lead to a bit of a disconnect in the US.

Groups that are not deeply domain-specific do not seem to get much love when it comes to upper management helping them pitch their programs to potential clients.

In general, Siemens at large (as opposed to this specific operating company) does not grok software the way they do hardware. Though it's not a critique of this company, it is an impact felt by the employees of this company.

Compensation for software engineers seems to be on-par with national averages, but clearly lower than regional averages. Bonuses are unimpressive.

Be more bold, empower your people to be more bold, and be ready to act quickly when that boldness produces something that might lead to bigger things. The yearly hackathon (which was not the idea of upper management at all, and was spearheaded almost entirely by one engineer) is not enough.

A position at this company may be a stepping stone to bigger positions within or outside of Siemens, but don't treat it like that. Instead, try to make a meaningful difference.

Be aware when speaking to your employees that they are very smart. There is a large number of PhDs here, and if you make grand pronouncements and plans, and they don't react with a great many challenging questions, it is not because your plan is good; rather, they might just be tired of changes that are not meaningful, useful, or justifiable.