Superb work environment, small potholes in the road
Pros
Excellent, easygoing manager, the best I've ever had (I was previously at Intel and Garmin). Very laidback, allows a lot of freedom to get the job done, and occasionally provides helpful suggestions with the work. Fun coworkers who are extremely competent at what they do A robotics/embedded systems playground - tons of interesting problems to attack. Engineers are given the freedom and flexibility to solve problems by any means necessary. 10% time to pursue your own projects (although the work still needs to get done) Excellent work-life balance - managers are very accommodating. Some seniors work from home for half the week. Although if you want to stay past 7, there's free pizza... Everyone is eager to offer help and get to the root of problems Upper management, e.g. VP of software, are always eager to improve and hear opinions Opportunities to travel to China and California for product development (software, electrical, mechanical, and others)
Cons
One program is poorly managed, understaffed, and hard to work on Occasionally, there is poor cross-team communication between software and electrical engineers, resulting in short-term crises Sometimes unrealistic deadlines are set for software work An Agile approach often means not much design work is done beforehand One half of the research arm (located in California) is resistant to change and unwilling to align with guidelines set by Bedford office Long-term prospects for the company look difficult - lots of competition coming from Chinese companies entering the market