Pros
Salary is "good" but could be better at some other private companies in Switzerland. If you live in France you'll have an advantage, but from the services/rent side, it's normalizing over time.
Cons
• The practices we use build Software are very antiquated and outdated. From daily standups to the frameworks used, both on a technical but also managerial level. • The things you learn here are mostly good if you stay at CERN. The knowledge here would be hard to quantify outside of CERN in practice (at least on the software side). • This has to do with where inside CERN you live, if you're living on the French side, you're basically forced to live in SGP, which is not a place a young person should spend their youth in. • You have to have a car to make it easy on you. It's not explicitly stated, but you do need one. • Even if you're in Software Development, you're still affected by the academic background around this institution, in one way or another. Compared to the private sector, it's a harsh reality. How? Well, the whole process of getting a promotion, etc. • People that have literally only worked at CERN for decades, with little knowledge of the state-of-the-art or modern practices. Ties into my previous point that this is not really a place for a young person. More like, for someone who wants to work here until they retire. • There is no culture. People only go to work and home, they work longer than the 8 hours, and they are very boring usually. Because the attrition rate is high, there is typically a formed group of permanent people, and then there are the guys that are here for a short period (1-3 years). There is no in-between. • Burnout/Overwork City. You want to work with burned out people and burn out yourself? You're in the right spot! • Some areas are severely understaffed, which contributes to the burnout problem I mentioned. • Old buildings, I don't think the office ever gets cleaned, they are dusty and unpleasant to work in. • One AC on the hallway for 8+ rooms, it's not enough in the summer. It gets very hot outside, and it is hot inside too, and that's not great. Also, the fact that the rooms aren't often cleaned (if at all), it concerns me about the cleanliness of the AC system also. If it's not cleaned at least once a year, it will develop fungus, and you do NOT want to breathe in the AC air then and can lead to asthma or other respiratory issues! • No good options to choose your own hardware/peripherals (bring your own).