Interesting problems, my experience- unqualified first level management
Pros
The atmosphere is adequately relaxed as far as dress and timing. Also I was happy the technical management didn't waste my time with the 15-minute interval time recording and various other nonsense unless HR was screaming. Some of the problems I saw being attacked were interesting. I was allowed to have some element of creativity in what I was doing; my initial task was to implement a particular method that hopefully takes us from point A to point B. Instead I suggested a different method that performs more reliably, and this suggestion was listened to and solved one of the unsolved issues in an ongoing project. Unfortunately the project as a whole was ill-posed so I don't think a customer will really make use of it.
Cons
Some technical challenges are interesting. However, the focus in the company is strictly on building business, less so on the fundamentals- quite a change from academia that I was used to. I can only speak for the particular group I was in of course (and to a less accurate degree those nearby), but I was dissatisfied with the technical competence I saw around me. Also the cheapness with equipment was unfathonamble. I would think that using half of my weekly salary to buy a new computer to improve my productivity 50% and comfort much more would be a no-brainer, but alas no success.
