Pros
Competitive pay and benefits - best large employer in the New England area for engineers Virtually unlimited access to personal-growth projects. Great middle-management, deserving of the highest accolades for employee respect. Interesting setting and high quality shipbuilders. Excellent access to overtime. Seems likely to retain its market share for the immediate future. LS7 union is pretty reasonable, mostly respectful and will work with management.
Cons
Vacation allowance is below industry standards and amount of time off is unacceptably low. Hard working, hard charging folks will want more time off in the first 5 years of employment. Pay seems detached from effort or results. This stings especially when yard-wide cuts to health care, compensation, and promotion possibilities effect great and terrible workers equally. Competition in the military shipbuilding field is fairly fierce, and BIW is definitely in red waters and appears to not have any definitive strategy. Like any big company - there is a lot bureaucratic red tape to cut through.