Not the best experience if someone is interested in doing cutting edge technology work
Pros
i) Stable job with reasonable work hours ii) Decent base salary but stock, 401K, etc benefits are much lower than the industry standard.t iii) Free breakfast and lunch; who says there is "no free lunch theorem". This is surely one thing I miss!
Cons
i) Not up to date with technology; most of the engineering work is more of maintenance type and one can get rusty and out-of-date with fast moving technical fields while doing that kind of work for 2 - 3 years. This is the prety much the reason I moved on after 1 and 1/2 years and I can see at least 8 - 10 people from the R&D team who have left for other tech companies. Not sure how Dreamworks compares with other movie companies as I don't have first hand experience myself. ii) Minimal stock benefits; no ESPP (stock purchase plan at a discounted rate); this is available in every company I have worked for. I am comparing this with other hi-tech industry where I have worked (or have first hand experience on employment details) like Microsoft, Google, etc. I haven't worked in movie industry and am not sure how it compares with other companies like Pixar, ILM, etc. iii) 10 vacation daya; I think this is also lower than the standard 3 week vacation. At a higher level, if someone has experience in working in the top tech sector companies like Aple, Google, Adobe, Microsoft, etc, I think Dreamworks will rank a few notches lower on the compensation. The work depends on the specific team, though the reason most people left that I know off are lack of opportunity to be at par with the fast moving technology field/s.
