Pros
For an entry to mid-level technical person, to work at SLB can be an amazing and rewarding experience, especially if you're prepared to work hard. A career at SLB for people at this phase of their career can easily seem like more than just a job, but instead like a lifestyle, especially if you’re posted on overseas assignments. Teams work and play together and slowly over time your work colleagues become like family and great things are achieved together. From since inception, the company had willfully incorporated that strategy as part of their culture – hiring smart, resilient people, filtering the best, keeping them motivated and achieving great things through and with those people… always promoting from within. In terms of diversity, other companies can only aspire to achieve the level of diversity SLB employees have witnessed since decades ago (aside from age diversity), and frequently one can find themselves in a room of people that are all from different nationalities, cultures, sexual orientation, etc. When you are on the up and up in your career it can feel like the world is your oyster. Work hard, play hard and get rewarded for it financially as well as in terms of visible recognition.
Cons
Say no to a few jobs and/or get put in a job with the wrong manager, and it feels like the organization can quickly forget who you are and what you are capable of. Then, to get out of a difficult situation or from a job that is not the right fit for your skills and talents, one has to rely on politics and pandering to who you know. If you are not the type of person that is prepared to do that, or you get offered a position by someone who liked you in a former role, it becomes very difficult to say no, even if the position doesn't suit you and your family at that particular juncture in your life. If you are in mid-level management and you are not past a certain level of seniority in your career for decisions you may have made or roles you may have turned down, beware as you approach 50 years of age. The company gives handsome payouts to those folk and it is difficult to prove age discrimination, but I’ve seen too much of these folk get let go once they turn 50. Almost like they completely forget how the combination of experience, energy and drive and being placed in the right role can bring so much value to the organization.