Pros
I previously worked in a similar role for a competitor. Weatherford offered higher pay, a safer working environment, subsidized housing, a better retirement plan and more vacation time. The company teaches me new things and they let me leave work early on thursdays so that I can attend training programs at the university.
There are a lot of talented workers at my location. Several of the project leaders have PhDs, many have M.Sc./M.Eng. and the management of some of the laboratories are university professors. Not all employees are from academia, we also have many employees who are mechanically inclined, are good at organizing things or attended the 'school of life' and just know their stuff really well. Employees are retained long term and many have been here since the years when the original company was founded (Weatherford bought us).
The equipment and experiments performed use more modern equipment and more sophisticated methods than those used by my previous employer. There are maintenance schedules for the equipment so there are fewer failures and no time is wasted struggling with broken equipment.
The managers ask my opinion and give consideration to what I say. They don't always agree but when they recognize a good idea, they give serious consideration to implementing it. I know that my boss is the boss and the workers respect him/her. When the company bought other companies, we took all of their best technology and gave them ours. Also, we now have access to experts in areas where we previously did not have as much experience.
Everyone at work smiles and they seem happy to be there. On Tuesday, people bring fruit to your desk. On Fridays, there is cake and coffee at lunch time. We go on team building trips to cool places (the employees pay into a social fund that pays for this). This year we went mountain climbing and fishing. Last year, there was cross-country skiing and horse riding. There are soccer games on sundays and a bicyle competition in the summer.
If I won the lottery, I would still work here 4 days a week.
Cons
I had to relocate. I wasn't entitled to vacation time for the first 6 months but I could take unpaid vacation if I wanted to.
The board members are getting lots of stock options but they don't offer this to technical employees or mid-level managers. I get lots of emails from these guys but it's never relevant to me or my work.
