Pros
EA will let you lead the lifestyle you want to lead. The free shuttles arrive at 9am and leave at 5pm so it's expected that you are NOT in the office outside of those hours, though it is appreciated if you come early or stay late. The gym is state-of-the-art with all of the fixin's. The 401k plan is amazing and EA will match up to 6% at about 100%, depending on how the business does. The benefits are great. Gas can be delivered to you car, car wash on campus, car repair, onsite dentist etc. Gift match (up to $5,000) if you donate to any charities Volunteer $ if you log 20 hours in a fiscal year Base salary below market, but generous stock options and bonus ESPP which allows you to defer up to 10% of your salary to purchase stock 15% below market Commuter benefits (pre-tax) Parking Subsidized food Awesome campus Free games $100 towards a console 3,4,5 weeks of paid vacation (depending on how long you've been at EA) Onsite child care (ridiculously expensive) 10 extra weeks of parental leave after 1 year of service Probably much much more... Look, it doesn't get better than this in terms of lifestyle. Only a handful of companies in the world do it better (Google, FB...) so if you have qualms with the comp packages, it's really a first world problem. Schedules are flexible, work from home whenever, offices around the globe if you're a traveler, large amounts of vacation, and plenty of money to help with retirement. If you are looking to start a family or to settle down, a big company is the way to go.
Cons
Okay, so you have great perks/benefits but you think about giving them up because work is rough. First off, work is always rough so look at the bigger picture. Specifically for EA here's the deal: Obviously, EA has made questionable business decisions. Google it. It's not a secret. It's hard to work for a company that is hated at times. Though, it's awesome to work for a company that's loved (when that does happen...) it just depends on which game you are on. The culture is not great. It's a bro culture. By that, I mean that women have to work 3x harder to get to the same place as a man. It's not blatant, but if you're a woman looking to join the video game industry or join a sports title, you'll have to prove yourself. A man does not. Both men and women acknowledge this happens. That being said, it's not a bro culture in the way that women feel unsafe in the workplace. EA is corporate. Politics are rampant. The people that make it to middle management are people that took credit for other people's work, played the game, backstabbed, etc. However, the people at the top are really smart, super nice, and humble. It's just the climbers/middle management that are a bummer and it is hard to work at a company that rewards those kinds of people. Overall, the biggest con is the culture, in so many ways. Day-to-day work is fine for most people. Coworkers can be hit or miss. EA is aware of their culture issues but I don't see it changing anytime soon.