Pros
1. Amazing WLB - no micromanaging 2. Fireproof - I’ve never even heard of anyone getting fired here and Id expect this is especially true if you have program clearance (SAP) 3. Pay is livable - nothing spectacular but you can live off of it 4. Learning opportunities - You may be able to learn a little from some projects 5. Critical, National Security projects 6. Predictable, reliable leveling comes with YOE
Cons
Lower pay - the pay is much less than the tech industry, otherwise similar to others within industry Boring - I find myself atrophying with my technical aptitude when assigned tasks on projects that are decades old Tenure-based - level is largely based on YOE instead of contribution or ability RTO - I personally have been given projects that are remote and given projects that exist within a SCIF (no phones, no external internet on classified system) and projects within a SCIF can only be worked on-site Red Tape - updating classified software with unclassified software is not going to happen with existing projects, and even for newer projects, it takes a few months to even get it inside to start testing with real data and is usually not realistic for a newer-project timeline Coworker variance - some coworkers enjoy the work, are good at it, and know what they’re doing. Others do not nor do they care.