Pros
1, We do challenging projects on solving real world problems which trained ourselves very well. 2, nice collaborating colleagues (most of time), but some annoying shark style colleague ready to make trouble for you (sometimes)
Cons
1, At my time of joining Siemens (Siemens Corporate Research), it was the 2nd best industrial research lab (next to Microsoft Research), and No. 1 in medical imaging industry. (Yes we are more comprehensive or more academia reputable than Philips and GE). We still did more scientific style research which has real big impact on the product development for years to come. Not anymore, management are more short sighted, on the way becoming another GE! More engineering or re-engineering oriented type of development which is not good for the true type of scientist. 2, More importantly, this company simply runs on almost no principles of modern management. Some more senior managers with respectful good leadership can be removed over the night, which makes people see their future. Upper management tried to prompt younger guys for better control. Too much politics! 3, The space of rewarding for everyone is quite tight which makes a lot of unnecessary fights among different groups. You have to be a "wolf in the wall street" to survive, without wall street pay. 4, If you do good and achieve well, normally nothing will happen. Your manager can be praised instead of you due to their proper leading efforts. But if you screwed up once out of 10 times (if you are always dealing with challenging problems), you will be screwed and blamed, not your manager. 5, This company is not equal-opportunity. You have to be a German to potentially have a career path. My former group had >50% turn-over rate within a year.