If you fit the culture, MathWorks is the best. If not, move on...
Pros
- Products that make a difference in the world - Bright and challenging co-workers - Financially successful private company with enormous cash reserves. No need to worry about MW going out of business for a long, long time - Nice facilities (campus, FitWorks, cafe) - Generous traditions (yearly Mt Washington family trip, 5-year 'big trips', Wednesday breakfast, cookies) - If your management chain likes you, you can take on lots of responsibility, change processes, and have lots of fun.
Cons
- Review process is tortuous. From January to May, everyone dreads writing their self-review. Mid-level managers have god-awful meetings to mud-wrestle with their peers to rank each member of their team against individuals from other team. It's just false - comparing apples to oranges. And, no one really has adequate knowledge to make these judgments. In reality, senior management identifies which stars to reward and which low-performers to cull out. - Having multiple levels of the stakeholder (profit-sharing) program doesn't pass the sunlight test. - MathWorks has had layoffs. If the economy takes a downturn and you aren't getting high ratings, be prepared to look for a new job.