Good firm, beware the Autodesk Antibodies of Change
Pros
Great salary, great benefits, great stock options. If you're looking for a company to "dock into" and "work to live" (versus "live to work"), then Autodesk a GREAT company. It has a killer recipe for generating revenue, and protects that recipe at all costs. So the company is healthy, and the benefits are great. The customers LOVE the product. And the people that you work with, for the most part, are pretty great. For what it is (a technology commercialization firm), it does it very well.
Cons
In order to really thrive at Autodesk, you have to understand that Autodesk is NOT a technology development company. it's a technology commercialization company. The only real innovation that happens is around acquisition (of other technology) and (re)packaging of existing technology. And they definitely are not big fans of change. From the smallest internal change to the bigger, more systemic changes - the Autodesk Antibodies of Change (which are everywhere) will choke out any attempts at change in the company. It's not done overtly, but rather in a very silent, passive-aggressive manner. Which is pretty much the dominating cultural trait in the mid-senior levels of the company. The fear of disrupting the revenue flow permeates the management layer. They actually teach a leadership course where the primary objective is to teach the new leaders how the revenue flow works, with a half day spent on showing how many things can negatively impact or harm it. It drives every management decision and forces an incredibly conservative approach to nearly every aspect of running the business. So if you're looking for a company where you can step in and make great things happen...keep looking. Autodesk is not the place for you. Most folks who come in with new ideas or an agenda (wanting to grow, develop, advance), are often weeded out within 18-24 months. Risk-takers do not fare well here. The company thrives off of homeostasis, process and systems, and attempting to make any sort of novel impact is ...in a word...exhausting. Most of the 'deskers (employees) are with the company for 10+ years. They are heavily invested in keeping things (all things) the same. So change doesn't happen quickly - unless it's a re-org. Which happens about every year.
