Pros: Flexible working hours, especially with a family. This allows men to also take short-notice leave when the children are sick, at least in the teams I have been in so far. Learning is highly valued, and if you find opportunities for further education, these are often made possible. There are also some access to online courses or internal workshops.

Cons: Salary is below average. General office obligation in the hybrid model (when there were recommendations from the federal government to work from home, we were allowed to work full-time from home). The apartments in Düsseldorf are expensive.

Pros: - Everyone is accommodating and helpful. - A lot of freedom to choose how you approach your work. - Self-determined start and end hours.

Cons: - Some of the benefits can be a bit hit or miss, e.g., if you aren't into extrovert-oriented events. - Salary lower than elsewhere in similar roles.

Pros: I invested time and effort thinking I was moving forward, yet it often felt like I was standing still, or even falling behind. I used to be the smartest kid in the room. Somewhere along the way, I began questioning what happened to that version of me. Was I misled earlier in life about how merit works, or am I only realizing now how complex and discouraging corporate environments can be? Or am I being consistently placed into staying a "low three" (an internal label), no matter how much effort I put in?

Cons: In my experience, formal education and degrees didn't seem to carry much weight when it came to recognition or compensation. At times, it felt like mentioning academic achievements was subtly discouraged rather than valued, especially when discussing growth or pay. Leadership has members with no university degree. Senior leadership frequently highlighted non-traditional career paths and success stories. At the same time, employees with formal academic backgrounds often felt that credentials were not consistently recognized or rewarded. I also experienced what felt like a shift away from transparent, large-scale organizational changes toward individual "mutual agreement" exits. While this may be standard practice in some contexts, it made it difficult to understand the true scope of workforce changes from the outside.