Pros
- Genuine care & respect for people, no hire & fire mentality. Good benefits although less than they used to be. Employees can speak their mind openly (thanks to our German friends I guess) - Highly diverse and talented workforce. People from all over the world, probably more Europeans than your typical SV company account for a rich cultural experience. - Lots of new exciting products and technologies - Opportunities for lateral moves once you've proven yourself and built your network.
Cons
- Center of gravity is in Germany, lots of things have to go though the HQ. Sites / product units are not independent enough which hiders agility. - Turf wars and kingdoms result in an inability to re-distribute resources adequately and dead branches sticking around for a while. - Complex to navigate and lots of dependencies between groups can slow you down