Pros
Leading edge, state of the art technology. Flexible working environment. In El Segundo so near the beach and near lots of amenities. Basketball at lunch time. Liberal use of computers (everyone has internet at their desk except those in classified areas). Free Sparkletts water. There's almost always a free lunch in some conference room (leftovers from noon time meetings). Lots of programs so lots of different stuff to work on (except now). Beautiful landscaped main facility, clean. The restrooms and grounds are in really good shape for example. Most people at Raytheon work a 9/80 work schedule.
Cons
I don't want to write this as a dislike, more of a slightly disturbing observation. Like the Doors song "People are Strange", There is some sort of weird culture at Raytheon El Segundo in that people avoid eye contact in the hall ways. Everyone seems to be in a guarded insular stance. You rarely hear people laughing. I don't know if it is Raytheon, or Southern California, or commuting, or the 2011 economy but most Raytheon employees are not cheerful, they're almost morose or depressed. Nobody ever talks about their home life. You never hear of after work or weekend outings. People really keep to themselves. We realize the work we do is important and a lot of it is extremely classified but the mood is way too serious in casual interaction. I don't get it. Benefits: Starting in 2010 Raytheon 401(k) only provides a 3% company match (4% after 5 years). Boeing for example provides 6% and Northrop provides 4%. The PPO is very costly, like $5500 per year for a family. The worst thing of all (this sounds trivial but it isn't), Raytheon uses Lotus Notes instead of Outlook. LN absolutely sucks (there's even a website out there called "I hate lotus notes"). Due to mergers, there are still several "Raytheons" each with its own culture and management chains. For example, Raytheon El Segundo managers don't talk to Raytheon Fullerton managers. This is not good if you are interested in switching locations for example. It's like there are two different companies. Finally, because Raytheon is in El Segundo, family housing is either extremely expensive or very far away. You can't have everything: quality, close by, affordable. Pick two. If it is affordable it and close it is "the hood". If it is affordable and high quality it is far away. If it is close and high quality, then it is expensive. The 405 freeway is almost an invisible line between the expensive, South Bay housing and the rough neighborhoods east of the 405. Many people commute in 50 miles on vanpools from Ventura County, the Inland Empire, and Orange County but as mentioned above, Raytheon is really cool on working hours so people come in early or late to beat traffic.
