Pros
- Nordstrom recognizes that they need technology to stay competitive. - Friendly environment, good work life balance. - Nearly unlimited access to tools, information, anything you might want to understand about Nordstrom's business. - Job security. - Great products. - Infrastructure at Nordstrom demonstrates that they have an impressive understanding of the retail space.
Cons
- Technical debt, a lot of it. Managers view software as a commodity. - Technical leadership is severely lacking. Management is run by non-technical people that often push their own agendas, despite costing the company more overall. Solutions get tossed out the window because some head doesn't understand how technology can improve operations and cut costs. - Job security is a pattern here, as in, all key knowledge is tribal information and the only source of information is a couple of individuals. - Promotions won't come until other people start packing their bags and leaving. - Tech group identity turmoil. Teams are being cancelled, merged, or moved under completely unrelated divisions. You will often find that effort is being duplicated across the board because of it, and management doesn't communicate between tech divisions.