Avantages
The SEI really cares about professional development-- they encourage all employees to learn and grow with both events/conferences and within their day-to-day at work. That being said, there is a sincere work/life balance that just doesn't exist in other jobs. We have the incredible opportunity to collaborate with a top-notch university through our affiliation with Carnegie Mellon. There is opportunity to grow and learn both vertically and horizontally-- we are encouraged to get involved in projects to expand our knowledge and capabilities. As an employee of the SEI, you get to work on cutting-edge projects all while knowing that you are working toward a higher level mission than just creating product.
Inconvénients
Because we are at the meeting of academia, non-profit, and government work, our processes can often take a long time to work through. The salary is often not as good as our for-profit counterparts. That being said, it depends on where your priorities are. One of my top priorities is work/life balance, so I am satisfied taking a cut in salary to achieve that.