Pros
Golden Handcuffs - e.g., Thou shall be paid more, receive the sorts of bonuses and profit shares that are lied about elsewhere during interviews Many job roles offer diverse approaches and methodologies, or interesting work The company has a printing press in the basement with the now-organic global adoption of plastic and electronic payments in lieu of cash Good reputation and cachet for a resume Generally "nice" people An opportunity for true greatness if the trajectory of the company can be altered to better fit the dynamicism of the future - This place CAN win, but isn't Good Work-Life balance for most roles, especially for the competent Recent words and inklings from senior folks offer glimmers of hope for long-term view beyond the current model
Cons
Golden Handcuffs - e.g., Thou shall find it difficult to duplicate your pay elsewhere even when taking a "Step up" Addiction to core business model (the printing press, see Pros), while serious longer-term threats of disintermediation and displacement exist Senior Management is woefully overrated, and are largely are a collection of Association-era dinosaurs and sclerotic banking vets. MasterCard is still a pasture for the empty suits. Serious lack of effective innovation, and ridiculously poor integration of acquisitions - again, indicative of inability to operate outside of core franchise and processing competencies Legal and overprotective turf warriors prevent any innovation, as does the lack of connection to end-consumers. All of the traditional FI's and payments ecosystem players are losing out to agile and emerging channel players, and MasterCard is behind among that pack t that as a whole are behind. Lacking junior resources; with a top-heavy "upside down pyramid" structure with decade-experienced professionals mired in cubicle city while window offices are occupied by folks with occassional good soundbytes at meetings but little else Fear of Visa. The constant feeling of being Second or Third. An on the balance fear-based culture, with top-down dictums without coherent strategy, and reprisals for contrarianism Over saturation of client-facing roles. Recent actions don't match words of the "Powers That Be"