Pros
The public perception is great because of the innovative things being done in places like Pier 9. It's cool seeing the Autodesk logo on video game splash screens. I am proud to tell people that I work for Autodesk. The benefits are incredible. Health, vision, dental, 401k, ESPP, stock gifting based on performance. Healthcare providers frequently tell me that they've never seen health insurance as good as ours. Vision insurance pays for an eye exam each year plus glasses or contacts for every member of my family. The PTO is generous and there is no limit on sick time. Every 4 years employees are provided with a 6 week paid sabbatical to be used at any time within the next 4 years. Employees are given the proper tools to do their jobs.
Cons
While telecommuting is available in certain situations, it is becoming more and more rare to hire someone not located near an office. It often seems as if good talent is being passed over in favor of having chairs being filled in offices. Opportunities for career growth are based on politics rather than performance. If you ask why then you aren't dedicated to your job. Some employees are able to jump from job to job and stay fresh, while others are overlooked and become stagnant. Middle management - my biggest gripe. Employee disbursements look like a bell curve. C Level is pretty standard for any corporation, Once you start going down the ladder into middle management it swells like a balloon. Leave middle management and go on down the chain and it tapers back off. Any given person may have to answer to a number of people, and most of them contradict each other. All hands meetings are mostly spent focusing on one subject that only appeals to a small segment of the audience. Any news delivered can't be 100% trusted because by the time the next one comes around the process will have changed 10 times. Middle management "interprets" what they take out of those meetings and regurgitates it in a completely unrecognizable form. Always being told that the division is making money on a scale never seen before yet expenditures at levels below middle management are so tightly restricted that you can't effectively do what you need to. Benefits and perks that are advertised heavily on the "look at why we're so great to work for!" employment site are either limited to specific office locations or left up to direct manager discretion. If you get stuck with a manager who is afraid to spend any budget on his or her direct reports then you can forget any extras. Work/Life balance is a mixed bag. It's easy to land on either side of this. Some people really manage that life part very well, while others can easily fall into the work part by saying yes one too many times. While employees aren't told that they live to work, the idea is implied. If you work hard you can't slack up because now your extra work is the norm and doing the standard amount is considered poor performance.
