Pros
Most of the people at MDD are good people. Bosses are variable depending on the office. Some are tyrants and others could care less if you even exist. A good deal of autonomy and a potential for exposure to a wide range of businesses and industries. Offices throughout the states and international with transfer opportunities available. Can be very rewarding and there is opportunity to ascend the corporate ladder rather quickly provided you have a certain personality and desire to perform certain tasks. Very flexible with vacations and personal time in most (not all) offices.
Cons
You will live and die in Excel. Spreadsheets, spreadsheets, spreadsheets! Low to average pay for all but top performers. The training is a complete failure. All training is on the job and you either catch on and thrive or you really stagnant. They have a "formal training" that takes place every few years where all the offices get together but it's more of a social event than training. Though there are similarities, every file is different and every partner/manager has a different idea of how to approach it. For some, this might seem like a pro but I find the lack of structure to be very much a con. Feast or famine type of environment. When a catastrophe occurs, you could be overloaded with work for months or even years...you could be traveling stuck in some disaster zone for an long period of time working long hours. In contrast, when there hasn't been a large scale hurricane/tornado/earthquake etc. for a while, things can get really slow. You're expected to know how to calculate a loss in any industry that comes along as you move up even if you haven't really worked in that capacity during your tenor. Again, no real formal processes or structure or training. Depending on your superior, you may be treated poorly or possibly even ignored if you can't function in the specific capacity they require. There is a lot of "butt kissing", "back scratching" and so on needed to truly progress. Both internally and externally as it applies to clients. If you are not willing to market yourself and the company to clients, if you are not willing to take clients to dinners, sports functions and generally "court" them, you will likely reach a glass ceiling and will have no further opportunity to ascend. This industry is very much about relationships. You have to fit in to the social groove of your office and you HAVE to make clients want to choose you to succeed at the upper levels. This is a big turn off for someone who prefers to come to work and just do their analysis as required (aka introverts or non-social butterflies). Very easy to get pigeonholed. This is niche industry and there are even ways to get stuck into a niche within the niche and end up with a very specific skill set that is not easily transferable to any other position. Office politics can be very uncomfortable. If you work in an office where your political/religious leanings are opposite to those of your superiors, things can get really uncomfortable. Discussions occur, literature is placed etc. that is completely inappropriate in a work environment.