Avantages
Not many companies are out there if you want to learn 101 of hardware engineering at the board level.
Inconvénients
That's about it. No path to growth for engineers. I was there for a long time, and although I left, I loved the people I worked with, including my bosses, so I do mean this. Hardware companies grow at a much slower pace, and Supermicro is extra conservative, but that's ok, the company is still growing and does have a niche. But people, especially older people who's been there for a long time got too comfortable with what they've been doing and stopped learning. Hence, they can't move to other companies. Their title and skills don't match, and they can't keep up with other fast past SV-style companies. That's ok too, they've been there for a long time, and they've earned it. They are like government employees. The problem is that they are blocking all the young engineers' careers. To young engineers starting: learn how it gets done, develop relationships with vendors/clients (they are mostly fortune 500), and move on. Sales/client-facing side seemed better, at least in this aspect.