Pros: A good job in the grand scheme of things. Reasonable work-life balance depending on the team.

Cons: WLB can be bad. Company unable to retain senior engineers. Politicking.

Pros: Amazingly talented engineers. I was hired without much experience. They took a chance on me and let me learn and grow at my own pace.

Cons: I never felt like I was a part of the team as a contractor, even though I was in the office every day for 8+ hours. There was a lack of diverse experience levels; everybody I worked with had 15+ years of experience, while this was my first real engineering job. The age gap made it hard to connect with co-workers. Although conversations for full-time employment were happening throughout my tenure there, they were never able to commit and ended up dropping me when COVID hit without any tangible reason.

Pros: Most colleagues are intelligent and ambitious. Compensation is OK.

Cons: Little management focus. Technology is well behind the state of the art. Old technology creates a high maintenance burden.