Not a meritocracy, questionable decisions made at sr lvl
Pros
Interesting work, some smart people you can learn a lot from. The benefits - free access to museums, etc are on par with industry.
Cons
Long hours, more than happy to work you to the bone without compensating that (it’s expected) or even a thanks, penny pinching (e.g. no means to formally recognize an individual or team, no holiday parties, etc), raises and bonuses small/non-competitive. Also, you need to be very ok with grey areas, doing things you’re uncomfortable with for wrong reasons. Appearance/politics most important - for example, on a regular basis, mgmt would rather make a wrong decision quickly without accurate info or enough facts and even when better decisions are proposed at the same time by the team or by an individual behind closed doors. Why? Mgmt would rather appear to be decisive, save face, stand by their decision, and have the team waste time by following that bad approach/decision...inevitably, when it’s beyond clear the bad decision is bad, mgmt proposes a “new” (I.e. original suggestion by the individual/team) decision as their own, doesn’t apologize or admit their mistake (ever) and the team starts all over again. In spite of that, mgmt still wants the work yesterday and demands the team meet the same deadline (even though they caused several days to be wasted already). This is almost always announced at 5 or 6pm even though they’d already changed their decision that morning! Similarly, mgmt is more comfortable with communicating incorrect info both internally and externally for appearance (rather than getting back with an answer - because then it doesn’t appear as if they’re all-knowing) and so they can take the opportunity to “look good” in front of peers and those more senior. Employees I worked with at the time and former employees I’ve since met have the same gripes.
