Honestly, it's what you make of it. Take advantage of opportunities!
Pros
- Amazing technologies, at the frontiers of aeronautics engineering / software engineering. - Challenging and unique projects, lots of opportunities to travel all over the world (depends on project). - Among the engineers, the vibe is refreshing and full of energy. CAE is somehow very good at picking lots of extremely driven, motivated and helpful people to make a team function. - Flexible hours. - Lots of initiatives to motivate a continuous learning habit. Lots of programs to expose to you other aspects of company. Pays for programming skills development or other professional development programs.
Cons
- As in a big company, your experience is largely dependent on what projects or managers you have. They are generally very good, but can get pretty bad in select few cases. - Some projects are heavily mismanaged, and blow over budget casually. Lots of "higher level" people trying their best to layout a project, without much consultation to the engineers that actually code. Halfway through the project, it starts going south, and the managers force the engineers to catch up (overtime, weekends, graveyards). Management mistakes left and right, then engineers slave to deliver the project on time, management is then rewarded for "managing" a "difficult" project. - Some managers could disappear tomorrow, and you'd never even notice, and the project will probably go smoother. As the stereotype goes, engineers are socially-awkward, and management are people-oriented. CAE loves to breaks stereotypes. - Compensation is average. They do have great benefits, and lots of other work perks, but money talks, and CAE murmurs. Exceptional workers are definitely recognized, but not enough monetarily. You can tell that your direct manager wants to give you more, but they work with what they're given too. - CAE can definitely treat contractors better, instead of alienating them to 2nd class citizens.