Pros
One can get movie credits and see his/her name on the movie screen. Pretty thats the only brownie point I can think of from the perspective of an R&D engineer
Cons
I hope, this list doesn't get too long: 1) Very poor compensation compared to the other industries. I worked as a R&D engineer at Dreamworks and now work as a Software engineer in one of the big companies like Apple or Google. In 3+ years from the time I left Dreamworks, my overall compensation package (salary + yearly bonus + yearly RSU + 401K match) has nearly doubled (my current compensation package is ~1.8X times my last pay package at Dreamworks). 2) Minimal stock benefits: no yearly RSU's or any RSU at the time of joining; no ESPP or any other stock benefits 3) Minimal 401K match 4) Stagnant manangement consisting of people who have been around for 10+ years 5) Using computation and software tools from the previous millennium for development work 6) Stale maintenance work as a R&D engineer; no scope of being at the forefront of technology. 7) Some of the older colleagues (who have been at Dreamworks) for 10+ years are terrible to work with. I have checked with quite a few newer colleagues who have left Dreamworks around ~2 years and all of them have simile experience. 8) Of late, no job stability; regular layoffs as Dreamworks itself is in bad shape. To sum up, never work here as a R&D engineer; its enough to ruin one's career!