Pros
Work/Life Balance Friendly and helpful people Excellent office with subsidised home setup if required Extra couple of days holiday in comparison to other UK based companies The company has a large market share so it's a fairly secure job
Cons
No innovation or opportunity to learn. The main product is stuck on a very old architecture that is impossible to get away from as it keeps the lights on. There is no career development or training and as a Software Engineer you won't learn very much that is relevant to the modern software world. The ownership are only interested in making money, they have scaled down the engineering organisation to the bare bones without reinvesting. A combination of bad SVP/C-level appointments, poorly thought out acquisitions and no reinvestment has turned a once good company into just another corporate entity where people can coast and do very little. If your face fits and you speak nicely to - and agree with - the right people then you will get on very well. Poor or non-existent management at all levels. The CEO was once a strength but being so comfortable in his role has fed down to all management levels. There is no sharing of knowledge and everyone keeps their own counsel to attempt to make themselves irreplaceable. This is allowed to happen everywhere in Engineering to the point where up to a dozen specific people couldn't leave or the company would flounder. If your face fits and you speak nicely to - and agree with - the right people then you will get on very well. Spending is wildly inconsistent. Sales kick off type summits and travel to attend conferences is blank cheque territory for certain people.
