Pros
I've been working at Allstate for 4 years as of this review. Overall, Allstate is a good company to work for. The company itself treats everyone well and you feel as if they care about their employees. A lot of long tenured employees that have moved around or up the ladder. I just caution due to the size of the company, to make sure you find a role that works for your needs. When it comes to development/engineering roles, there are definitely some interesting products being produced, with teams using new technologies. Make sure you know what the role entails and ask lots of questions to make sure it is what you want. Some teams use XP paired programming with no opportunity to work remotely, which might not be appealing to all. The Merchandise Mart office (not my office) is a fairly new space and is very modern, youthful, and energetic. It has a completely different vibe and culture than the Northbrook office. My area is very accommodating when it comes to work/life balance. Everyone generally is able to work from home once a week, more if necessary. If you need to leave early or have personal issues to deal with, management is very understanding. This may not be the case in other areas.
Cons
From what I can tell, Allstate's base pay isn't the best. It's probably right in line with averages, maybe a little lower than others. Benefits are just okay, but there is a pension plan here that they put a little money in. I've heard of many people moving around over the years to different roles, but I've had a problem doing the same in the last year. There's a big effort to move IT roles to other locations across the US, with some teams relocating, leaving employees to face the decision of relocating to keep their job. Due to this, there is not as much is available in Illinois. A lot of this will change depending on where you are in the company. Office location, role, organization, etc. I happen to be on a team supporting a legacy application. So, as a developer, it's not the most exciting and there's not much day-to-day development work. It's also a fairly older area, age-wise. If you would prefer a younger crowd, stick with jobs in the mart or in the lab in Northbrook South plaza. Speaking of the office in Northbrook, it's pretty large with 4 buildings, 3 on campus and 1 across the street. Due to the aforementioned move to different states, the 2 acquired buildings will be shut down. So it will be back down to the 2 original buildings. To accommodate the amount of people, cubicles are being broken down into open seating. Also, the design and decoration of the office is pretty standard with lots of grey and neutral colors with the occasional brightly colored wall. Not very modern and I believe it was redone only a few years ago.