Pros
Amgen does some amazing work for patients and the company has a very bright future even if our Obesity drug doesn't hit. The local Cambridge office has an amazing culture, with some type of event happening nearly every day (happy hour, soccer, pickleball, cooking classes, massages, etc.) powered by very strong ERGs. Every month I see a 20 year anniversary which says something about the cultureThe company shutdowns, especially the summer shutdown, are the best and are much more valuable than PTO since the whole company is off at the same time. Health plans, retirement, & bonuses are all top notch. Dependent on your role you can have a great work - life balance. People will always complain, but from what I've seen even those on the busiest programs have a better work life balance than the previous companies I worked at especially the startups I worked at.
Cons
Career development is very unclear and hard to navigate. If you're not one of managements buddies you will lack career advancement especially in the Cambridge office (away from HQ). I've seen executive leaders or those randomly lucky to get on a program that happens to show success get promoted 2 - 3 times in the past 4 years while the lower levels are pressed to get 1. They are definitely taking the "Quiet Firing" approach where they will just take away someone's responsibilities resulting in them getting bored and leave so they don't have to pay severance or go through HR paperwork.
