Pros
Some brownie points you could get by telling potential employers that you worked for Tesla
Cons
I had worked for a few organizations before I joined this company. I say without any reservation that this was the worst company I worked for because of how I was treated. Here are some reasons I have based on my experiences. 1. Average or below average compensation. Tesla's salary for engineers, supply chain professionals, and managers is generally lower or at least slightly lower than the market pay. Also, compensation isn't just a number-to-number comparison it is the value that one gets back in return for the work they do for an organization. The pay that I and many others received at Tesla didn't in any way compensate for the expectations that the management had and for the unwarrantedly harsh work culture that existed there. 2. Mediocre work. Despite all the talk this company does about extraordinary work, it employed many people doing idiotic jobs, especially in the supply chain org. On the other hand, many extremely mediocre people survived in the organization for years at mostly the same designation just because they had the right connections and a good understanding of a small predefined set of products and the exact same job that they had been doing for years. A lot of people who adore this company from the outside do not know that the way to survive here has nothing to do with actual talent and ability. I knew a demand planning manager who was always scared of losing his job, even though he had survived multiple layoffs because he was simply incapable of upskilling himself. He had been using the same set process for analysis that he had been using for years, scared of sharing his "trade secret" with anyone, even in his own team. 3. Worst mentoring and management. In my experience, Tesla managers are some of the worst mentors and leaders. They can be rude, discriminatory, partial, and nontransparent. Their presence in your work life can be disastrous for your career. I had the experience of working with two separate managers. The first one was very partial. He had a strong, unprofessional affinity for subordinates belonging to his culture and speaking his language. He was bad at delegating work saying things like "I don't trust you" for simple jobs that required minimal thought, using such statements as excuses for favoring his preferred employees with better work opportunities. He was so discriminatory that he once said- "Look at your face and look at everyone else's face here." Unfortunately, there isn't much one can do at Tesla in response to these things other than to leave the organization for another one. My second manager was probably one of the most deceptive people I had worked with. Working under him broke me as a professional and a person. He was notoriously nontransparent putting on a fake smile in every meeting, telling me something and writing something else in reviews. Effort and expertise were rarely recognized and every mistake was articulated, in writing, as a crime that could lead to a potential disaster. He too was discriminatory never concerned about giving actual support but only reporting to his overlords. 4. Extremely toxic culture. For all the talk this organization gives about work, it has possibly some of the worst office politics in corporate America. People at least in my time were always scared about losing their jobs. This created a general environment of distrust, fear, and unhealthy competition. People were scared of being transparent, individuals would go on to say some of the worst things about their coworkers behind their backs and people wouldn't spare opportunities to present their own teammates badly. My manager had once called a one-on-one meeting after I asked for a day of remote work and threatened me in all kinds of ways to discourage me from making such a request again or from asking generally anything for my well-being. He did this even though he himself worked in the office for less than 6 hours each day and chose to stay at him on most Fridays. (Remember, I had written that the way to survive in this organization has nothing to do with talent or good work). Due to the toxic and fiercely competitive workplace that exists there, it is hard to find people you can trust, open up to or generally be friendly with. I have a strong feeling that the toxicity that exists everywhere in Tesla flows directly from the top management. Read the news. The most important thing is that this company has almost no value for its human resources. They are considered extremely replaceable cogs in a large wheel, insignificant and inconsequential compared to the "company mission" and are treated accordingly. I remember a good example for this. This company is very popular with immigrants who require work Visa sponsorships. They generally speak very positively about the company or are just too scared or too dependent on this organization to speak up about the toxicity that exists here. I knew an immigrant, a fairly good worker, who was fired 1 week before their H1b visa lottery results came which was also EXACTLY one day before their first portion of stocks got vested. Few people cared what happened with him. Inconsiderate and ruthless.