Pros
In my experience, you're given the opportunity to drive how you want your career to look- coding, networking, security, analysis, management, or otherwise. Biweekly and quarterly 1-on-1s with your manager allow you an easy avenue to discuss your goals. Overall, there is great work/life balance; great benefits; smart, friendly teammates; and interesting projects/opportunities (depending on the team). They are starting to modernize things as well, headed by a competent architecture team and a dedicated CIO. There is an on-site gym, cafeteria, and 'agile' work-spaces being phased in this year. HR routinely examines pay scales and adjusts them to be similar to market expectations (as they're trying to compete with the Twin Cities). Federated takes responsibility in the community of Owatonna as well, recently helping finance the construction of a new high school.
Cons
Some technology processes are older, as to be expected with a company in financial services. The headquarters is in a smaller community so there are few local opportunities for entertainment as a single person in your 20s. There are no official telecommuting options, but managers are flexible in bad-weather scenarios. Certain team placements (happens after the training phase) have a lower retention rate than others, as not all teams focus on 'coding' like an applicant may expect.
