Pros
“Worklife” balance Everyone is nice and relaxed. No real pressure
Cons
If you are not in a college hire program like TLP and you take a dev job directly after college, your career will definitely suffer. I was hired directly as a developer after college, and was put on teams that didn’t really do any “real” work or have interesting projects. Meanwhile, friends that were hired on the same year and were in the TLP program were promoted quickly to senior. Your work will be meaningless. Few teams are doing complex work, and a roll of the dice to get on a good one. In my department, most managers didn’t know what was going on with most teams. Lack of accountability is insane. Most are coasting. Good if you are starting a family and maybe settling down. Really, really bad if you want to work hard and progress to achieve your fullest potential. I felt like I wasted years of my early career working hard for a company and managers that couldn’t give a crap. I’m progressing at a better company with the same amount of effort with more pay and recognition. Also, heard from more tenured employees that leadership, compensation, and direction have declined since Bogle left Vanguard, and has accelerated downhill post 2000s era, and I would concur. Early career devs beware. Plan to leave 1.5-2 years if you aren’t a senior by then.