Pros
- The overall mission statement and idea to help improve the lives of customers is great... in theory. In practice all that matters is making money at the expense of innovation and getting anything of quality to market. - Under competent management it is possible to learn, grow, and develop as a software engineer (all of these managers have since left the company) - Really great people seem to end up working for Medtronic and stay because they honestly believe in the mission and want to help the customers.
Cons
- Way under paid for the work. - A management team who doesn't understand the first thing about developing software or how to plan a project. - Gender and race are more important to the company than finding people that are able to to the required work. - Management spends all their time fighting and attempts to build empires at the expense of those doing the work, project schedules, and ultimately the customers. - Promotions are not based on merit but on filling quotas and ensuring that anyone attempting to do real engineering is not considered. - All software development is being outsourced without regard to quality, or meeting the basic standards required to release a medical device through the FDA. - Schedules are driven from the top without any knowledge or regard for the time it actually takes to complete any amount of work. - Health insurance is very expensive due to subsidizing members of the group plan. - Project management is not capable of planing a project, or understanding the most basic concepts for developing medical devices. - Engineering is discouraged it is better for your career to just say yes and agree to whatever management asks for. - Deadlines have no real importance, schedules are made by throwing a dart at a calendar, and when it comes time, nothing happens. - It took me 1.5 years to get the requirements for a promotion. When I tried talking with management about a promotion and prepared examples of how the criteria was met with examples, additional criteria was "made up" on the spot which is not actionable without any career improvement plan. - Matrix Organization - Took Medtronic Diabetes 15+ years to develop a "new" insulin pump. - Management manages projects with wilful negligence. Internal and external requirements are not met, and rather than writing deviations as required, management withholds information in the reports and tries to inundate those reviewing the documentation with so much info that they don't notice. - Third party vendors and arrangements. Be prepared to work for the people your company is paying to "help".