Pros
* Has a meritocratic system in place and a great belief in it; * Has a very horizontal culture, in which competence takes precedenco over title; * Encourages people to develop themselves * Great place to learn
Cons
* Meritocracy is, after all, fairly subjective; * Career progression (advancements) is usually slow, due to the considerable gap between grades; * Progression can be made even harder if you are stuck with an incompetent manager (first two points make it virtually impossible to progress, unless you do a lateral movement); * Career progression mechanism (encouraged by management) encourages peer competition, sometimes to an unhealthy level; * Internal processes have evolved to a point of bureaucracy -- an increasingly bigger amount of effort is put in politics (including "cover your ass" procedures), deducted from really productive time; * The company is still struggling to move effectively into a services space, escaping from the mingling PC market. Forays into adjacent markets such as smartphones and tablets have been innocuous so far;