Pros: If you actively pursue places where you see you can make realistic improvements, the less you are likely to be assigned to projects you dislike. If you are lucky enough to be in a forward-thinking and efficient team, life there runs smoothly and you can have some fun. Work-life balance is very fair, as long as you pull your weight. Keep open the lines of communication with your team, customers, and direct reports. Be available when you work off-site. Salary and benefits are in line with industry standards, with the exception of startups.

Cons: The overall quality of software developers is poor, and projects are not run as well as you would expect in today's technology atmosphere. There is little to no corporate technology/coding standards, which lends itself to a chaotic infrastructure and coding consistency for a company with 25K+ employees worldwide. Good developers tend to have short lifespans because of the lack of willingness of management to encourage and drive the necessary changes needed to be a world-class leader of industry standards. Management is very reluctant to embrace new technology. Corporate cybersecurity makes getting your job done efficiently nearly impossible. The lack of good, experienced technical leads and the silo mentality of projects makes collaboration between teams difficult. Proper onboarding training for new developers is nonexistent.

Pros: Great benefits including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, PTO, bonuses, etc. Good people; there are lots of smart and determined employees who will help you navigate your company and your job. In my experience, most people want you to succeed, and they will help you. It's not an "every man for himself" environment.

Cons: You might get stuck on a team that is working with very outdated technology. Visa is not a very flexible company in that they are not very willing to step into current technology and try the latest and greatest. Which is understandable, but be aware that you probably won't be doing anything cutting edge at Visa unless you work in R&D.

Pros: In 5 years, I got exposure to big projects using C, C++, Java, and C#. So, personally, very rewarding. Visa encourages individuals to learn more by organizing various classes in the company, providing various online learning resources, and lastly, you can go to any outside university and take classes there.

Cons: Salaries are not competitive. There is absolutely no personal life balance :-( But I guess this is how it is in most companies now with the plunging economy.