Summary: Lack of professionalism and knowledge from majority of management (and occasionally peers). Creativity and innovation are stifled by mediocrity. Can't move up. Strong slant toward technical/engineering group to the detriment of others.
If you're just out of school and need a stepping stone to a real future, this is your place. It's a good learning environment, if not always a supportive one, so you need to be able to deal with a set-up-to-fail situation right from the get-go. If you're lucky enough to be on a great team, your experience will be different from others who didn't have it so good.
If you just want a paycheck and don't care you're not necessarily paid to think (and only do what you're told), this is your place. Volunteering to do things may bring you more pain than it's worth. Additionally, great and/or innovative ideas tend to be put down or modified enough that it's unrecognizable and lackluster to be approved by management. Change is slow, if it happens at all (or is pushed along by either family members or selected "favorites"). There also tends to be two groups of people: those who get by doing the minimal (or getting others to do it for them), or the others who do the work--and then some.
There's really only two levels: management and grunts. Even within departments where there is some manner of vertical climbing, you only really matter if you're a manager of some sort. Which is depressing in it's own right.
Additionally, since management favors technical smarts above anything else, other departments are essentially treated like red-headed stepchildren. If you're in engineering, or there in a technical capacity, you've got it made (you'll see this in other reviews)--just keep management happy. Otherwise, it's difficult to make much of an impact without playing politics on some level.
