Pros
Sunnyvale has a really nice modern campus and buildings.. Standard benefits for a high-tech company in Silicon Valley, and the benefits are really over and above if you have children. Until a few years ago, we knew we were making a difference, knew we were helping to build something great, knew we were making history. We knew we were working too hard, and being paid too little, consuming more late night pizza and cola than bears thinking about, but wow, we were really having fun. We were all empowered to take risks, to innovate, and to drive change. Managers did real work. Executive management did a fantastic job with the vision, finances, etc; and was open, honest, trustworthy. Employees were loyal, and dedicated to doing something we could be proud of, and winning. It was all incredibly satisfying.
Cons
Employees are no longer empowered to innovate. Management is making decisions for political or CYA reasons, rather than strategic reasons. Middle managers hired from the outside by friends inside, or promoted from within to their level of incompetence. Too many people doing little or nothing. Really good people let go in last Feb layoffs, and so many useless people retained, and still wandering around doing nothing. Incomprehensible. Products go to market too fast. Too many bugs. Infrastructure is falling apart, and funding to replace it is scarce or non-existent. IT seems to be exhausted (though that seems to be the case almost everywhere). NetApp is no different from any other company now. As it matures, it is becoming fearful of change, inflexible, process heavy, hiring managers who are killing the once-extraordinary culture very rapidly, and hiring average or incompetent individual contributors who are just looking for a paycheck. Many formerly dedicated employees are becoming recruitable. There is a steady trickle out of people who cared, and when the job market gets easier, my guess is that it will be a rolling river.