Pros
Being surrounded by very intelligent people really helps you to feel empowered. It's great to see all the new directions the company is going in, since my initial experience was a little lackluster. My two managers really listened to my frustrations and helped me transition to better projects and roles where I could feel challenged and prolific (I hate having nothing to do for 6-8 hours a day). The company culture is great, and all you have to do to "cross the lines between departments" is strike up a conversation in the cafeteria or hallways. The people are very friendly and the workplace is an awesome environment. Central location to bus tunnel, train station and Stadiums/Pioneer Square provides lots of options not only for commuting, but for recreation when you need to stretch your legs or unwind with the team after work. It's great to see the company embracing new technologies like mobile, responsive design, Agile methodology and thought leadership. Keep opening the vault and don't keep it all in-house. Our customers want to know that we're doing what we do FOR THEM.
Cons
When I first came to work here, I had a preconception that my role would be much more conceptual and less production-oriented than it was. Add to that the constant tug-of-war between making billable hours and not having enough official work to bill, and I started feeling dissatisfied with the lack of projects to keep me busy. When you can see how technology can improve, but are prohibited from exploring new solutions based on corporate/client contracts only for endorsed projects, it can be hard to innovate and feel challenged. I'm glad to hear that is changing as the company embraces some of Google's "innovation time" ideas. I'd like to see the Professional Services department move to more of a "think-tank agency model" with retainer contracts rather than a "per project mandated by the OEM" so that products can be innovated starting with the end-users' point of view, not what automotive CEOs deem as important for their dealerships. This is the 2012 Internet, people. It's not AOL anymore. Users come first. Sometimes there is a noticable lack of professionalism when it comes to people's conduct. I'm all for free expression, but lets save the bad language for after hours... including internal company presentations. We may be in the middle of a liberal city, but not everyone is "overly tolerant" about not-quite professional conduct here. Times have really changed.