The glass is half full - F5 is slowly working towards becoming a world class company.
Pros
Top ten reasons to work at F5: 1. Very smart engineers - the people there know their stuff. 2. Laid back atmosphere - not too much pressure - it sometimes get a bit busy during release time - but nothing crazy gets thrown at you. If your workload feels too high, you can always ask for help - and most of the time - get help. 3. Engineers rule and have a great deal of flexibility. 4. Don't need to waste your time writing crappy documents - documentation is for losers. 5. Flexible working hours - in fact - just don't show up at the office - work from home. 6. Great benefits - healthcare, 401k, commuting stipend. 7. Great location for the headquarters - near great restaurants, parks, seattle center. 8. They feed you every now and then. 9. Great christmas/holiday parties. 10. Free beer most fridays.
Cons
1. Pay raises are often dismal and disappointing - you're lucky or favored if you get anything above 4%. 2. Too much favoritism. The wrong people get promoted all the time for kissing butt ... but then again it's the same everywhere. This also applies to stock based compensation - many employees get nothing - others get a lot. 3. Most managers (bar a few) are clueless. Most managers don't have any idea on how the product works but they still attempt to lead you. 4. God help you if you join the test team. Most of the testers at F5 don't know what they are doing. If you manage to survive the test team long enough, you get promoted to become a manager. 5. Like with many companies, there's a pecking order and different sets of rules for different people. 6. Despite of what they say, it's not very easy to move between teams. 7. Don't expect too much feedback from managers/upper mgmt - most of the time they don't know what the employees under them are working on. 8. The company meetings/all hands meeting are a bore.
