Pros
The work is great. As a hardware engineer I get to work on a wide range of products and technologies. At NI, you're given ownership of the products you work on so you're heavily involved in all aspects of development. This means there's a lot of variety and the job never gets boring.
The people are some of the friendliest and smartest people I've ever know. The average engineer at NI is a lot smarter than the average graduate at the University I attended. They really hire the best and brightest, which makes it a great work environment.
Culture is very open and relaxed. After 7 years, I've never been asked to work a night or a weekend. T-shirts, shorts, and flip flops are the norm. We have social gatherings pretty regularly at the end of the day or at lunch, so my coworkers are good friends.
I've never had a manger I didn't like at NI. I'm sure NI has some bad managers, but I don't know any. They're all engineers, like me. I don't really have a boss. I report to a more senior engineer. He treats me like a coworker, not a subordinate, and he values my opinion. He doesn't really tell me what to do. Time off is never a problem and they're always very accommodating.
NI works hard to be a great place to work and they've been very successful. They value employees much more than most companies. Layoffs are virtually non-existent and if they do have to close a department or office, they've very good about transitioning people into other areas of the company. There have been some growing pains in recent years, but they've worked hard to make changes for the sake of employees.
Cons
Not as much free stuff as some of the big tech companies (cafeteria, gym, snacks in the break room, etc. are not free). There have been some growing pains as the company makes the transition into a billion-dollar company.
