Pros
-Opportunities to do cutting edge science (and more supportive of externally publishing/conferences than many other companies) -Very good benefits (401k matches, great health insurance, summer/winter shutdowns with PTO.) -reasonable work/life balance under most circumstances
Cons
Job specific: 1. Strong "meeting" culture. expect to have lots and lots of useless meetings to get anything done. As with any large organization, bureaucracy creeps in 2. Promotions seem to be largely dependent on time served 3. There could be better harmony in the interactions between development sites Company wide: 1. Extreme labor instability. I have worked here for a number of years and in that time have seen 2 major layoffs, some "stealth" layoffs (permanent employees converted to contractors), hiring freezes, large scale departmental reoganizations, site closures, and the rise of a cohort of 2nd class contract permatemps for lower level positions. 2. Investment in developing employees and career growth is waning, particularly at the lower levels. Instead, permatemps seem to be cropping up in these functions. 3. Endless highly disruptive change ("Amgen Full Potential") nukes morale and instills a climate of fear and silent seething There seems to be an awful lot of "shareholder value" being purely extracted off the backs of the employees, rather than drawn from the market.