Pros
Esri's mission is meaningful, or at least I believe that to be true. Yes, we are in business to make money, however we have a real vested interest in our users - the two are not mutually exclusive. The sales organization is made up of people that truly care for the users and want the best for them, perhaps because there is no real incentive to force sales since our organization is commission-free. There is a lot of talent at Esri and it's a privilege to work among so many brilliant people. Esri offers great benefits - health coverage can be especially valuable to large families and I genuinely think this keeps a lot of our workers with young families around. Folks who work on Redlands campus get to indulge in a Café, gym, regular social events, and other fun interactive engagements that foster a sense of community.
Cons
Compensation seems adequate for technical staff, but we aren't allowed to discuss rates with one another so it's hard to know whether there is room to improve. Raises are modest to minimal. Profit sharing is put into 401k whether we like that or not, although to be fair 401k loans are allowed. The organization is growing and with that come growing pains - communication suffers most. There's a weird mix of off-putting overproduced videos of management selling concepts to us in some areas and crickets in other areas. What communication there is, tends to be near-term and doesn't allow a lot of prep time to help us help customers understand changes that impact them. Talented people are overloaded with hundreds of customers or piles of complex work while less competent staff are allowed to get by doing very little. Some divisions have too much process, others too little. Remote managers are becoming ever more common so you may find yourself reporting and rating to someone you seldom see in person. If you work in a Regional Office and don't want to move to HQ, career opportunities can be limited. Regional Offices don't enjoy as many perks as people employed at HQ. Policies and inflexibility cause managers to spend too much time running interference on approvals that aren't worth their time rather than mentoring those who need it. The company is privately held by older persons who have not communicated what will happen to it when they retire.