Pros

Adobe is home to a ton of extremely smart and hard-working people, many of whom (not surprisingly) are also artistic or musically inclined. It's a real pleasure to work with such a diverse and interesting bunch of colleagues. Work-life balance is taken very seriously at Adobe, so despite the intense workload people have the resources and support to avoid burnout.

It's fun to work for a company with the level of name recognition that Adobe has, although everyone you know will expect you to teach them how to use Photoshop (even if you work in a completely different BU).

Job security. Unless you're a complete screwup or in a bad skills-job match, the odds that you will be laid off from Adobe are low. The number of people with 5, 7, or even 10 years of time in at Adobe is high.

Cons

The flip side of job security is that turnover at Adobe is quite low and promotions are very hard to come by. The "bench strength" at Adobe is very deep. If you want to move up the ladder, cultivate patience. However, if you're OK with staying at your current level you will have the opportunity to work on different projects and learn new skills.

One of the more intangible issues at Adobe is the Adobe - Macromedia cultural divide. Even 4 years post-merger, the lines between old and new Adobe are clear to see. Depending on which BU you're working in, Adobe can be either a slow moving, hard to change beast or a fast moving, exciting, more entrepreneurial organization. On an interpersonal level everyone gets along OK, but the differences in how stuff gets done causes issues when trying to work cross-BU.

The difference between the SF and SJ offices is emblematic of this cultural issue. The SJ office, although very nice, is staid and corporate. The SF office is much more open and comfortable.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix the broken internal processes, make it easier for people to communicate, and find more ways to listen to our customers. Fight complacency.