AOL – “Great tech place to work, in spite of the management.”

Pros

Casual dress code, decent pay. Ability to work on large projects. There are some very smart engineers working at AOL, and the office can be very fun at time. If you have good managers to deflect the crap falling from above it's not a bad place to work. It's also a huge plus that you actually get to work on real products that ship, instead of the standard IT projects at most large companies that happen to have an IT department.

Cons

Lack of leadership. Lack of direction. The infighting between major parts of the org chart is shocking. The top management needs to pick a solid direction and run with it. RIght now the company as a whole is spread too thin, and will continue to be spread thin while the hiring freeze is on.

Advice to Senior Management

Get the ad business on track and kick the sales force in the butt. Hard.