Pros
CAISO is boot camp in terms of the utility industry - you get a good view of the industry and how it all works together. I learned so much in my years at CAISO, I am grateful for the opportunity and experience. It's a great stepping stone in terms of knowledge and moving on within the industry, if you put in your time and gain a foothold in understanding the alphabet soup of acronyms and terms used, and how the numerous programs work in theory and in real life.
Cons
I think an employee's experience at CAISO varies greatly depending on their manager. It seems to me that when an entire team has issues with a manager, it's not the employees that are the problem. However, it was my experience was that the manager/director is protected at all costs. CAISO has processes for processes, and keeping up with process changes (nevermind trying to find something on the website) can be a full time job for employees and Market Participants alike. Like many larger organizations, the silo effect is a huge challenge. My job directly affected another process which I couldn't tell you anything about other than what it was called. I wouldn't say employees are empowered to make decisions or have any real job autonomy, as a culture of fear and "witch hunts" to blame the person who made the mistake is the norm.