A pretty decent job overall, probably similar to just about every other major defense contractor.
Pros
1. The opportunity to work on aerospace and defense systems of national significance. 2. Pretty impressive "cool factor" on most of their products. 3. Pretty decent health/medical coverage, although the premiums, copays, etc. go up every year. 4. Almost impossible to get fired unless you are stupid enough to steal, falsify timecards, or surf porn on the web. 5. Work/life balance is pretty decent. I've never been denied requested vacation or "personal time" to conduct personal business. 6. Excellent support for military reservists; absolutely no complaints here. 7. Pretty good tuition assistance program if you want to pursue your higher education.
Cons
1. The feeling of sometimes feeling like an infintesimal cog in a gigantic machine. 2. Company is very bogged down in procedures and red tape which takes forever to actually get anything done. Plan to spend anywhere from years to infinity to realize the fruits of your labor. 3. Starting pay is fairly decent, but raises are anywhere from none to small (2-3%). A decent starting salary quickly turns into a mediocre one after a few years of this. 4. With extremely few exceptions, everyone pretty much gets the same review ("Satisfactory Contributor"). 5. HR department is completely clueless about most things and not able to answer basic questions. 6. Dealing with charge #'s and timecards (but this applies to just about any defense contractor). 7. Any "personal time" away from the office must be made up (worked on off days/weekends/after hours) or your functional management will notify you of the error of your ways. 8. Promotion process is some sort of closely guarded secret that management won't let anyone in on. Seems to be a lot more about who you know than what you know. 9. A lot of the employees that have been there for a long time (20+ years) are very knowledgeable, but also very lazy. 10. Seemingly endless "compliance training" which is mostly just CYA for upper management.
