people, atmosphere, pay, and PAY. Some of the smartest and most driven people were my colleagues. I met some of my best friends, made very good money and had a great time while doing it. The company was very professional, yet there was a very team oriented brotherhood.
Cons
Long hours, lack of advanced training. Of course there is going to be some bad apples. In every company you work plenty of uneducated, bad employees walk through the doors, but they were weeded out quickly.
Excellent professional environment, great exposure to industry and technology, endless opportunities to learn and grow. Countrywide has a variety of subsidiaries in the financial industry, mostly mortgage - and promotes employees to move and look for opportunties internally. They have excellent framework to promote new ideas, processes - both in technology and business. In the technology side, mostly home built solutions that are cutting edge and ahead of the industry. A great pool of talents, and outstanding team and professional atmosphere.