Pros
-Job security. Lockheed was still hiring in the midst of the pandemic making the post-grad job search less stressful. -Flexibility. Start and end your days how you like, as long as you hit 40 hrs per week. Might need to pull extra hours on occasion for deadlines. If you have classified work that needs to be done in the office, you currently have the flexibility to do your unclassified work from home to minimize time in the office. -Plenty of opportunity to branch out. So many different projects and areas, and it's relatively easy to get in touch with other managers if you're interested in switch projects/positions. -Benefits, especially for represented employees. Engineers are union-represented in the South Jersey area and the representation comes with fantastic perks in comparison to the rest of the org (and the benefits for unrepresented employees is already quite good!) -9/80 and 4/40 schedules. The greater company has just moved to a flexible 4-day work week schedule (10~ hours per day, flex hours across the 7 day week as needed), with the exception of represented employees who are allowed to stay on the flexible 9/80 schedule (9 hours Mon-Thurs, 1st week Friday 8 hours, 2nd week Friday off, flexing hours each week as needed). -Easy transition from college. A lot is learned on the job, but you're typically paired with a buddy/mentor, and coworkers are willing to help you out. -With the pandemic, it's hard to be social in the office and get to know people as a newcomer. Though, everyone I've encountered has been welcoming. The culture seems to be a little more lax now that so many people are WFH, so it doesn't feel very stiff for an office setting.
Cons
-At least for my project, there's unclear division of responsibilities among management/project leadership (depending on the project). Not sure who's responsible for what, especially in this time where half the workforce is working from home. I'm always second guessing who to go to with different questions about a project. -Sometimes slow, sometimes busy. Been mostly slow for me so far, and it's been frustrating begging for work every week. -Same diversity struggles you find in most STEM positions. More often I'm on calls with more people named John or Matt present than women or POC. -Support for new hires is inconsistent across the org. Some got a thorough on-boarding experience, some were left to try to figure it out on their own without a buddy/mentor of similar experience or without any regular one-on-ones with their manager.
