Pros
* Really sharp upper management. * Great benefits - with quick vesting. * Good community support * A job where you feel you are really providing a benefit for the (end) customers/shareholders.
Cons
* In Minneapolis there is not much potential for career advancement unless you are willing to relocate to Denver. Not only is this unattractive in itself it leads to unattractive behavior in employees. I've worked at bigger places and never felt I was in competition with other members of my department. We had different specializations and backgrounds and almost assuredly would be applying for different positions in different parts of the bigger corporation in the future. We were benefited by making each other look good and making the department look good. At CoBank - coworkers were benefited by making colleagues look bad as there were too many people held back too long that would all be leaping at the first possible opening (when one came). * Most managers are good, but if one is bad they may not be promoted but won't be let go or disciplined. Hey turn over in a department doesn't register with upper management and bullying behavior by one demotivating manager was completely ignored. * Very conservative (many open and vocal conservatives (Republicans). I knew of no openly gay or lesbian coworkers and there were very few minorities, overheard things like a manger lecturing a young employee on the "scam of global warming" while they were at her desk, several coworkers attended the same church as the department manager and talked routinely about church at work.