Pros
Many excellent technical opportunities for high-performers and SMEs. If you're specialized AND have business skills then you can advance if you fit the narrow culture (see Cons). Lots of diverse field opportunities available to fresh graduates. Decent office space, nice location for going out to lunch or going for a walk. The library is amazing and the librarian is top-notch. It has a lab, great lab team, facilities are "ok". Only positive aspect of the culture is they really appreciate staff who are dedicated to continuous learning and development (with caveats, see Cons). Plenty of good people at the senior and junior level. This place still has potential, but see Cons.
Cons
As an employee owned company, the management considers buying shares more important than doing good work as a means to have control over your career or climb the ladder. The company has a 60 year legacy since Shannon and Wilson started it, and some of the senior managers actually worked for them, so senior management's primary goal is to keep the company profitable (generally, that's good...) and NEVER sell the company. The resistance to being acquired rules their decision-making in building a management legacy. This is the main driver of the very conservative culture. This drives micro-aggressions, toxic behavior and kills diversity/inclusion. Many higher-level managers have only ever worked in this company, meaning they lack any real awareness of how far outpaced their culture is by most other employers in the industry. White, cis, straight means you definitely have a better chance of having a good time working here and building a meaningful career. This culture also means that mid-level managers will throw you under the bus the moment something goes awry with their project. Project managers do not take the hit, they displace blame onto their hard working staff; beware of the gaslighting! They do not seem to know how to manage talent unless it fits into a narrow, normative framework that is exclusive and not-diversity-focused. So long as profitability is at or above margin then they don't seem to care that they can't retain most new staff for more than 2-3 years. It's pretty crazy that such a toxic company culture exists among the generalized "woke-ness" of Seattle and Portland, but there you have it. UW may want to seriously reconsider directing their very talented students to this employer.