Pros
Very employee-focused, great benefits and nice to haves. Excellent in terms of IMechE professional development which is uncommon. Salary was good when compared to other companies. Some very good people in upper management, see management awards etc. Clear path for professional development into Senior designer and various paths from there on.
Cons
Prepare to fall asleep at 3pm every day. Very little variation in day to day and week to week work. Everywhere has this to a degree but in CDE it was too monotonous for me. Staff in the main office tended to be quite cliquey and as a result unapproachable outside of the office environment. While there is a clear path to senior titles etc, I wouldn't be comfortable being designated as a senior engineer 3 years out of university, the level of experience just isn't there in my opinion. 'Agricultural' approach to design. This was a con for me, others might appreciate this.