Unless you a very laidback person, stay away from CA - mainframe programmers should be 'just okay' at CA.
Pros
One word! LAX! Laidback!! Just like life should be - except it could get boring.
Cons
CA is generally a very lax place to work at. That is something I miss once I got out of CA. But, then it's also a very sleepy place. If you are the type excited to learn new stuff and generally go up in your career - PLEASE DO NOT JOIN CA!! Unless, they somehow offer you a position that is too good to be true and you don't mind using this position as a launch pad for something else in a year or two. Also a word of caution: Unless, you are already peaking in your range, ask about 1.2-1.3 times the salary you are happy to accept when you JOIN CA. Especially, if you are in the engineering/Technical side, get as much as you can. If it isn't obvious why, that's because the salary increments, that is, if any are going to be less than inflation rate. Quality of people you work with is pretty bad. But, they've got pretty good mainframe people. So, if you are a mainframe person, it is not a bad place to work for. But, take care at the beginning - it goes for everybody joining CA - that you are given a good salary. The mid level management is CRAP!!! Believe me and you'll save your nose some stinking smell. The topmost guys have impressive resumes but you need good mid-level soldiers/managers to execute their vision. Be prepared to have a large quantity of sub-par - i mean, really sub-par - colleagues in your team. The general rule is the few good ones are supposed to carry the team. And this is the worst part, there would be no admission of your heroics, so you will get tired of it soon.
