Pros
Cost of living in CT overall is pretty high, but there are just some relatively inexpensive places to live in southeast CT if you actually look for them. As an Engineer my rent has consistently been between 15-20% of my monthly take-home pay. I don't live lavishly but I don't think even minimalists can find that in most cities. Work-Life Balance is imbued into the culture of EB. People at the company simply will not push you to invest more time than 45-hrs a week. I've never seen it at least. People do put in more time, but there's always an understanding that you don't HAVE to. This ties into the next point... Job Security. There are seriously some of the dumbest people I've ever met working here somehow. There are a bunch of really smart people too, but I often look at the dumb ones for reassurance. I know that I can't be worse than them and therefore I can't really get fired. If I don't want to do the 4 extra hrs to get something done on Friday vs next Monday, the repercussions aren't really there. There is also just a ton of work coming down the pike so I could be there all my life if I wanted. Our longest serving employee is like 67 yrs. Opportunity. The job security also makes it easy to branch out and learn a bunch of different roles at once, even if you aren't really successful at them. Failing is a non-issue really. Subs. Depends on your ethics (I'm not totally drunk on the kool-aid of strategic deterrence), but as engineering problems, subs are wicked cool to learn about, and you do learn a lot of the aspects of the whole boat while you work here if you're curious. It's overall just an okay place to work. I have complaints, but I also intend to stay for another few years so they obviously aren't that serious.
Cons
#1 Con is the Culture. EB Culture is just.... atrocious. There are simply no kind words for it. It's stuck in the dark ages of old salty shipmates that are posturing themselves as the most impressive people without ever being vulnerable. The company will not really punish you for lackluster performance but they will also never go out of their way to make work more enjoyable for ACTUAL high performers. The result is a place where the unimpressive are comfortable, and the high octane achievers are frustrated. As you've probably seen in other reviews, these people simply do not stay at EB for long. There are some other stupid corporate quirks about EB that suck as a salaried employee, but honestly they aren't bad enough to make me detract a star. Most companies have garbage like expense reporting or some variety of logistics difficulties. The people whining about that stuff are pointing at the symptom and not the illness (the culture). Raises. Studies have shown that employees would rather make 60k in a place where everyone makes 40k vs 100k in a place where everyone makes 120k. They want the opportunity to grow above their peers if they invest the effort. But the system at EB is basically just non-meritocratic, like most government work. I get my 3% and maybe a little bonus and I don't complain (outwardly). Does bum me out though. Corporation-isms. This one is more of a feeling than a legitimate gripe, but there are so many things at EB that are just the most stereotypical "corporate office-y" things that just drain your life force when you face them day-in, day-out. This doesn't seem to affect the management at all though so they ignore the employees and refuse to spend money making improvements. Such an easy fix to boost morale, but the "ism" prevails.