Pros
Benefits and total compensation are some of the best for the Jacksonville area. If you are a townie who just wants a stable job for the next 30 years (or until the next re-org), this is the company for you. If you're a high-performer and free-thinker, then you'll only be happy for a short-time. The lifers openly say they just "drink the Kool-aid" so they can collect a check (or make it to 5 years to lock-in Railroad Retirement). From a technology standpoint, CSX does leverage modern methods and technology, but it will vary heavily on your team and manager. They have not actually adopted a true agile mindset across the Technology organization. The CIO is easy to talk to and open to feedback. She'll actually listen/read what you have to say and get things done. The overall benefits, as a management employee, like healthcare are great. You get HSA matching and relatively low premiums. There's access to a gym, plus other programs.
Kontras
Ever since the Hunter Harrison takeover, CSX has dramatically shifted its focus aware from employees toward the bottom line. Of course a business needs to be profitable, but leadership only cares about big their dividend will be of of their shares, or their end of year bonus. Leadership often uses meaningless jargon to make it seem like not giving employees a raise or reducing bonus potential is actually a good thing. IT leadership specifically is full of conniving individuals lording over their fiefdom. They prefer to play corporate politics, rather than properly leading and mentoring their teams. The business partners have little regard for technology, which strains the relationship when trying to build solutions. CSX tends to promote individuals to their highest-level of incompetence (Peter Principle). This results in managers and project managers who have no idea how to lead, nor proper understanding of their domain. You can actually leverage this to your advantage as an outside hire. I saw numerous individuals talk their way into technical roles, when they clearly could not do the work. They just delegated their work away and blamed others when things were done incorrectly. That said, certain individuals like this are protected by their bosses and HR. Leadership would rather keep an ineffectual PM/Mgr in place, than admit they made a bad hire. If you follow the ethics process and report issues, as instructed, with evidence, you will be outed and punished for not being a team player. On the topic of promotion, because there's many incompetent individuals in senior positions, you'll be hard pressed to be promoted. Leadership tends to promote those who they hand-select and groom into loyalty. You'll see certain individuals quickly skip pay bands and positions, while you and your teammates are told you need to follow specific track; that there are no promotions available. If you apply for an internal transfer/promotion, there's a good likelihood that your manager will sandbag your interview if they don't fully condone your team change. If you're a high-performer, you will be heavily relied upon to carry your team. Yes, you should be a team player, but you should not be expected to cover for senior teammates who consistently drop the ball. There's a reason IT has such high turnover. There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of my training class left the company. At the end of the day, you are expendable to CSX.