If I had a do over I never would have taken this job.
Pros
1) Learned a lot. 2) Gained a thick skin and confidence. 3) Improved significantly as an engineer. 4) I worked on projects that directly improved the national security of the United States. I love this country so this part made everything else (sort of) worth it. 5) the pay and vacation time was nice.
Cons
1) Very cut throat environment. 2) Very corporate - you are literally just a number and the company makes that clear. 3) Socially I stagnated here, the people that rise to the top aren’t necessarily good people. They are by and large great engineers though, to be fair. 4) They encourage constant competition with your pay grade, for example if you’re an E1 they want you to compete with other E1s for E2 positions, E2’s should compete for E3 positions, and so on. The problem is that nothing ever seems to be good enough, and if you are doing really well for your grade you’ll get promoted (which is exciting when it happens), then once you settle into your new grade nothing again will ever be good enough. 5) For reason 4 I never really felt that I had secure employment at Raytheon, even though I worked there for 5 years.
