Pros
I learned a lot, got great first hand experience at management, perks included discounts and free tickets to local performances, connections in the industry, and access to cool events. Huge vacation payout when leaving because you never use all your PTO.
Cons
The replacement process of people who leave has always been slow often putting people with low title leading major projects without a pay raise. That happened twice to me. Conversations around salary increases and cost of living increase have resulted in a "our hands are tired" response. Early in the pandemic while layoffs happened, remaining low level staff were told there would be no more over time and instead were given 12 hours+ of work to do each day. Feedback was harsh and cruel rather than constructive. PTO was impossible to use and I often worked on paid holidays (including Christmas and Thanksgiving while with family) because of a lack of organization. The DEI initiatives had to come from the staff in their 20s rather than the top down. Low level staff met outside of work to develop a plan, scheduled a meeting with upper management and gave them a fully flushed out plan including strategic goals. It was acknowledged but not one step was implemented despite the group of young employees being about the only diversity the company had at the time. I would have left earlier if I could have.