Good company overall, but overhyped.
Pros
People who will like working here: - New or nearly-new grads. The job training is top-notch, I'll give them that much. And if you avoid getting pigeon-holed into a narrow role (like analog-only, software-only, whatever), they'll make you very valuable for your next employer. - People who value security more than opportunity. You have to mess up really bad to get fired here, and they've never had a layoff in their history. So as long as you can suck in your pride and just play along with the approved "NI way" you'll do fine for as long as you want. Just don't expect to change the world there. - People coming from big, beaureacratic companies with lots of rules. They'll appreciate the safe, laid-back culture and the management transparency. - People coming from unstable, pressure-cooker small companies. They'll appreciate the slower pace and predictable paycheck.
Cons
- It really is a boring industry. Sure, NI can help other companies build exciting things with their equipment, but when it comes down to it, NI is basically just making generic programmable test equipment and the software to go with it. They'll do their best to make it seem interesting, but it's kinda hard for me to get excited by faster sampling rates and incremental software features and whatnot. - The "smart" work has been done already, so it's nearly impossible to make a name for yourself with any new ideas there. - The 14 straight "top 100 places to work" years have led the long-time employees to a "we know best" mentality. So if you're coming in with previous experience, don't expect them to trust you to do things your own way regardless of how much success you had before. They're not necessarily micro-managing you, but someone is keeping an eye on your work at all times to make sure you're doing it the approved NI way. - Benefits are good, but overrated. NI's health insurance plan saved me about $1000/yr vs my other 2 employers, but only contributed 3% to 401k vs 6% elsewhere. And the bonus payout is based on 40% revenue growth, which is a little unreasonable in this industry going forward.
