Pros
I spent a year working at FairfieldNodal as a Mate, straight out of a maritime academy. My experience before had been on bluewater vessels and on the Great Lakes, and although the atmosphere and logistics of working with Fairfield were different, I enjoyed my time at the company.
Pay is good, and the office is easy to work with generally. I had to take some time off to be with a family member who was ill and the crew manager was very accomodating and professional.
When I was performing well on bridge the Party Managers would notice and were generally cool to work with day-to-day.
Cons
Shipboard operations are not focused around the deck/engine departments. The ship is focused on seismic data production. The marine crew perform their jobs and are expected to hit seismic pattern entry points and not have engine issues of any kind all of the time, 24/7.
For a good professional this isn't generally a problem, but as any professional mariner should know alot of the time things break, or what have you.
Only about 33% of the crew onboard are actual sailors, so any time you have any sort of engine issue, or maybe you miss the entrance to a seismic pattern (which happens occasionally due to handling a ship at near steerageway speeds), folks outside of the marine department like to breathe down your neck. You are dealing with a large group of people who are ignorant of real shipboard day-to-day things, so that can cause friction when combined with that offshore mentality.