Pros
If you're looking for an IT job where no overtime is required, and an employer who is flexible with schedules, Symetra is a good choice. The people are generally very nice to work with - it's a friendly place.
Cons
The structure of IT and the business has fostered quite a bit of silo-building. Most of upper IT management has a mainframe background, and has not kept current on technology. As a result, most managers have an unusually low level of knowledge about what they manage, and seem unable to determine who their best performers are. (The dead wood in management has fostered the retention of dead wood among their staff.) This group of IT managers who seem out of touch with technology also translates to problems with the formation of a coherent IT strategy. Symetra has an unhealthy level of reliance on outside contractors to build critical applications that Symetra employees probably will not be able to maintain.
