Pros
Usual: Complimentary parking everywhere. Large campus. Lake in the middle of campus. Good subsidized food, especially the salad bar. Great people to work with. 401k match. Espp up to 15% salary. Offices for managers or higher levels. Gym nearby, on campus for FTEs. Shuttles to SF, East Bay, and South Bay (new so still working it kinks). Good training and learning opportunities depending on level. Business class travel for international business trips. Depending on Dept, can show appreciation for one another via value at works awards or Gilead thanks which is great. Overall great place to work and build your network, your skill sets, and opportunity to work in and learn to excel in a matrixed environment. Compared to a start up, great hours! Compared to start up, great place to make mistakes (or to practice things by trial and error) and learn from them. Being a fast learner is appreciated here and how one excels. Being able to navigate through the mean girls and narcissists and talkers is a good skill to learn too, and how one excels. Gilead is open about this: people hang out and chat with one another with ulterior motives; you might scratch their back later if they scratch yours. Side conversations are where all the real stuff happens. Good place to work for 3-5 years. I appreciate the opportunity to experience so much professionally in such a short amount of time. I'd rather learn here than somewhere else! Mostly friendly culture which makes it easier.
Cons
People are not technologically savvy here, and that's a problem because time, resources could be saved. Company cares too much about cyber security threats. Let us get newer office suite! Jeez. Why are senior leadership bogged down with this responsibility when the day to day experiences with software are had by the worker bees? Old version of Google chrome is used because they can't figure out how to get their regulated software to work (suuure). Culture is bipolar, risk takers on submissions and bulldogs to health authorities - and big proponents of going fast in general - but conservative in internal treatment of staff and handling difficult situations; and promotions (read other's reviews here). Can lead to passive aggressive attacks when forced to work with people even though you dislike one another simply b/c managers don't want to rock the boat or cause drama. Address the issues within group or team head on in a timely manner. Rip off the band-aid! Low quotas for promotion each year. Small raises each year even as a rockstar. Segue to... So much drama (read: politics) which isn't a huge surprise given hierarchical culture. Too much deference given to and power willingly given up by lower levels to senior middle management for their agreement, or buy in. Can't people make a decision themselves these days? Take a stand, have an opinion and justify it but be willing to be wrong or rejected. Too much separation between senior leadership and everyone else. The problems they want to address are very different from the ones I'd like to address. Also lack of knowledge about what everyone's role is.