Pros
i) Stable job with reasonable work hours ii) Decent base salary but stock, 401K, etc benefits are much lower than the industry standard.t iii) Free breakfast and lunch; who says there is "no free lunch theorem". This is surely one thing I miss!
Cons
i) Not up to date with technology; most of the engineering work is more of maintenance type and one can get rusty and out-of-date with fast moving technical fields while doing that kind of work for 2 - 3 years. This is the prety much the reason I moved on after 1 and 1/2 years and I can see at least 8 - 10 people from the R&D team who have left for other tech companies. Not sure how Dreamworks compares with other movie companies as I don't have first hand experience myself. ii) Minimal stock benefits; no ESPP (stock purchase plan at a discounted rate); this is available in every company I have worked for. I am comparing this with other hi-tech industry where I have worked (or have first hand experience on employment details) like Microsoft, Google, etc. I haven't worked in movie industry and am not sure how it compares with other companies like Pixar, ILM, etc. iii) 10 vacation daya; I think this is also lower than the standard 3 week vacation. At a higher level, if someone has experience in working in the top tech sector companies like Aple, Google, Adobe, Microsoft, etc, I think Dreamworks will rank a few notches lower on the compensation. The work depends on the specific team, though the reason most people left that I know off are lack of opportunity to be at par with the fast moving technology field/s.