Workday

1. We work with best-of-breed, bleeding-edge tools in the big data world (streaming and batched), frequently dealing with 10 billion+ rows. Needless to say, the choice of technologies we use is therefore derived from our needs. The work is extremely rewarding and satisfactory.

2. Independence to use the technology we'd like for any initiative, as long as it's efficient, fast, and best-of-breed.

3. A great learning environment within the team, where every member fosters excellence by reading and applying best practice principles, algorithms, etc.

4. Very nice, patient, and understanding team members who take whatever you say very seriously, no matter how trivial the technical issue might be.

5. A great place to learn and explore new technologies, acquiring a great skill-set for the long run.

6. Excellent perks, benefits, and salary :-)

1. Sometimes change is so constant that it can tire you. You'd have to read, read, and read, and still get a feeling like you don't know much and still have a lot of catching up to do.

2. Often we have tighter deadlines, so the choice of tools and skill-set for implementation is highly dependent on a few team members who know a lot. They can therefore run away with tasks that would take you, say, 3 days and finish them off in a day. There is a learning curve to follow. Once you've crossed that barrier with a year under your belt, it gets easier.

3. There is a lack of opportunity in my team to build things from scratch, especially if you are an engineer. There are already many things that have been explored and best practices figured out. While this is right, it doesn't give you the opportunity to start afresh, make mistakes, and learn from them rather than relying on others telling you a way to do it. If you like building things from scratch, you might want to look for another team. Although there are attempts to circumvent this, it cannot be avoided.

4. Tensed team – there isn't much fun or joke-cracking amongst teammates. This is different for other teams, though (direct observation). Our team rarely makes a loud joke or plays any sport, etc. Socialization is restricted to a few organized events. It's not a healthy place to be in the long run if you are looking for balance. Again, this is team-specific; other teams are very different from ours, but then the work is different.

5. Lack of communication with managers and reports – often, a manager relies on a few senior engineers to express anything and ignores the advice of other engineers. This can happen in any organization, but it's rampant in my team. It may not be so for other teams, though I cannot say.

Focus on monetizing products that you build. Consult "all" team members to do important things. Take into account that every one of us carries a unique perspective that may be valuable to input.