Pros
Free trip to Dresden with every hire. But you need to watch out for the weekly Pegida marches that welcome the Syrian refugees each Monday. Maybe just stay in your hotel room Monday nights and reread Slaughterhouse-Five or something.
Cons
Weak, patriarchal, micromanaging, so tightly-wound East German company with no clue how to do business in the US --terrible revenue numbers and stagnant growth from an amateurish, unsure, bungling, Clouseau approach to selling along with endless poor decisions, such as designing a trade show booth with scaffolding, spotlights, and a tower reminiscent of the entry gates to a prison camp (all that's missing are the sirens).
The CEO, a former programmer, constantly seeks validation as a business leader through regular declarations that this is "his company" while putting the business in yet another zugzwang, continually obsessing over minutia, and confusing delay with thoughtful strategy. Business is more focused on massaging his ego than doing fundamentally normal, simple things to gain even a modicum of success. Smarter than everyone else, just ask him, but can't seem to lead the company to any reasonable growth.
The Boston office (Rockland, MA) is a total lethargic folly. Hilarious doddering Colonel Klink-like leadership in an overwhelmed fog. Ignoring basic bathroom hygiene. Spontaneous naps. Claiming to have invented computers. Asking the same questions over and over. Espousing nonsensical pearls of wisdom. And I think Roz took a job there after leaving Monsters Inc. It's a cartoon that's funny for a while, but eventually becomes What-The-Fahrvergnügen sad.
How does something so interesting like face-recognition technology become stale? Cognitec has figured it out. This company is not progressing. It's regressing, like something out of the 50s. Aged leadership. Employees are their children. Don't think. Do only as you are told. 9 to 5 -- moved away from flex hours to office desks. It's not a place for talent, entrepreneurship, or ambition. If you question anything, you are insulting them. Be prepared to be completely uncomfortable when simply doing your job.