Mixed bag; depends on the project you're on
Pros
* friendly, supportive work environment * many experienced engineers to learn from * many of the project managers are a dream to work with * opportunity to work on bleeding edge technology and fascinating projects; I spent half a year working one-on-one with a guy with 40 years of embedded development experience doing fascinating work. Felt like a startup without the financial pressure.
Cons
Mixed record on sexual harrassment. I've witnessed an older man yelling a sexist taunt at two young women in the middle of the office just for walking by with ice cream (while most employees were outside enjoying said free icecream). I've also witnessed an older male mentor be extremely sensitive to a young woman who came to him about being stalked by her coworker. The stalker was promptly fired. Altran (big international company) bought North American department 3-4 years ago. Since then: -> insurance benefits have gone from nearly free to $140/month. ->Yearly performance bonus has disappeared. -> Large number of old guard have left, including many of the best engineers. -> more young developers hired, so less chances of working with experienced mentors -> culture has moved sharply away from startup-like and towards corporate drudgery -> when I was hired fresh out of school, they made sure I was on in-house projects where I could grow and was able to learn the ropes. In the last year and a half, I've seen them throw new hires directly into staff augmentation jobs where they're effectively employees of a company they didn't apply to. Unsurprisingly, many of them quit within a few months.
