Pros
Beautiful work environment Lots of very talented people Fantastic union health and retirement benefits, far better than those of Pixar, Blue Sky, or Sony (this is only for the Glendale employees) Southern California - there's nowhere better when you're a young man Good pay About the best job stability in the entire industry Free quality meals (amazing how much people complain about the food while they're saving thousands a year on groceries) Katzenberg is the hardest working guy in Hollywood, and has a better story/entertainment sense than he gets credit for
Cons
The job stability means glass ceilings for people who start in junior positions. There's so little turnover that it takes forever to work up the ranks. At the same time, outside hires ware often overvalued and not as good as more junior people already at the studio. As transparent and inspiring as Katzenberg can be, many of the managers he surrounds himself with are idiots and savage political animals. I knew a couple of production people who were pushed out because they were too willing to speak up for the artists and TDs. The pervasive and irrational fanboy hatred of DreamWorks gets tiring. But then it's not that hard to stop reading Cartoon Brew and similar echo chambers. Extremely hierarchical studio structure. People in different departments have no contact with each other, and tiny issues can become big problems. In 10 years there I never got to know a single lighter, modeler, or rigger except to nod at a few of them in the lunch line.