Pros
Compared to many other companies in the bay area, LinkedIn is one of the few that deeply cares about the people who work here. There is a strong focus on employee well being and talent within the company. This is now the hallmark in the industry for being talent first. With the public announcement of LinkedIn moving to Azure, there is an exciting pace in the infrastructure and the product domains. The company is also constantly innovating with the product, and there is so much more they can do. Linkedin's portfolio is growing to multiple new areas as the social engagements for professionals become more and more focused on online interactions. This means that there are amazing opportunities, that only LI can offer. Leadership at LinkedIn (managers, sr managers, directors and above), are drilled with empathy. There is a relentless focus on talent and people, and sometimes this can be hard on the management, but they enjoy the fruits of it all: trust, loyalty and excellent relationships with their teams. Big names like G and F aren't able to do what the leaders at LI have been able to. The commitment to diversity is real in all aspects. You are heard for your thoughts and ideas, and not for who you are or where you come from. Respect and humility flow through the veins and arteries of the company. To everyone outside of the company, this almost seems like a weakness, but this is one of the magical strengths of LinkedIn. It all begins with the right leadership. Individual engineers and others contributors like program managers, finance managers, and so many others (no disrespect to anyone not mentioned here), are the secret sauce of the company. People are extremely smart, and driven. Everyone is "in" it together, which is a very LinkedIn way to put it. Career progression is fun when even peers are invested in you because there isn't a notion of 'me' or 'you.' Mentorship is promoted across the company, and structured sponsorships are becoming available as a new means to enhance prospects and not just skills. Overall, an excellent culture, great people and good challenging work.
Cons
The largest flaw in the company has been the overly conservative approach. Like the entire engineering organisation slowed hiring last year, which was a knee jerk reaction. Some prioritization helped, but leaders from different organizations still couldn't see how to help other areas and partners. The silver lining is, that people listen and do something about what's being said, but it needs to be more proactively approached. Being conservative with spend is good business sense, but not all the time. There are many more minor flaws, but the only other challenge for an individual joining the company is to be able to get used to the technology and systems. There's a lot of technical debt, and while there is an organization focusing on the base platforms and tech, the velocity to reduce technical debt to be able to get new individuals productive has been slow. This has crept into almost all areas of the product, and is not a unique challenge for the company. Once again, the industry in general has this problem, but LinkedIn can certainly do better.