Pros
I was at Zynga for more than 4 years. Having joined early, I got to see the company take off and subsequently the recent pains of the past few years. Knowing all that, my overall experience here has been fairly positive. Things are better for those who joined early however due to receiving more stock and compensation than those who have joined later. Consequently, it seems like a lot of the older folks are still here while those who have been here for a year or two quickly find something else and leave. The company direction isn't great but if you come into grips with the situation and silo yourself within your immediate group, then you'll find passionate people who really care about what they do and also some of the smartest people I've had the pleasure working for. And the perks? Awesome. Free food, free gym, shuttles, pretax on transit programs. The culinary department is probably the best performing division and most consistent group within the company. Having been served countless lunches and dinners over the past 4 years, I heartily say thank you to them.
Cons
Direction of the company is not great. Company lacks a culture of innovation and products that the company pushes out are lacking and cannot compare with competitors. I don't see that changing anytime soon unfortunately. Company has a lot of cash but pivots constantly with constant re-orgs which throw out everything that was previously done. I've had so many teams and managers in the past year that it's frustrating. My best advice is to put your head down, get what you can and learn what you can, and to not let it bother you too much. Otherwise the politics will and can kill this place for someone. Having to worry about layoffs all the time suck. Having been through both of them, they were huge morale drainers and made a lot of people jaded about staying, almost to the point of just zombie'ing through their career here. People joke about wanting to stay just to get laid off also and get the severence, not the best work environment to be in.