Pros
- compensation is usually good - depends on the group, work/life balance can be good - the campus is nice, pond, waterfall, turtles - engineers-driven company
Cons
- delivery doesn't matter - promotions from within are rare - performance review doesn't matter - poor diversity, many Palo Alto groups have more than 70 % South Asians, I wish I knew hindu - from career prospective, not recommended to join on your own. Rule of thumb: 10 years of experience + PhD == Senior Member of Technical Staff, when joining on your own. fresh graduate == Staff Engineer, when coming through acquisition. - Rumor / urban legend goes that some groups used to put their junior members in turtle's pond, as part of some initiation process. It was swept under the carpet by HR. Once again, it's rumor, but why somebody will make up such rumors? - management / leadership rotate all the time, coming close to non-existing. I had 5 direct managers in 2.5 years.
