Exciting projects to work on. Too bad there's not much motivation to excel.
Pros
The projects you work on at Raytheon as an engineer can be very stimulating. You'll work with some very talented engineers who value your commitment to the team as long as you're willing to work hard. In my experience you aren't required to work much more than 40 hours, and even if you do work more than 40, you can usually be compensated for your overtime. As with most large companies you will receive a good benefits package and a 401k program. Raytheon will match up to 4% of your 401k contributions. You'll also get a profit sharing bonus yearly. I'm my 4 years it's ranged from almost 1.5% to almost 4%. All employees receive the same profit sharing. It's not dependent on your individual performance.
Cons
It's very hard to distinguish yourself from your peers as far as compensation. An excellent employee may receive a 4-5% raise in a non-promotion year while a mediocre employee still gets 3%. The clustering of salaries that result make it hard to be motivated to excel. So, you'll be likely to run into a lot of bitter, unmotivated employees who do just enough to get by and are unlikely to help you along your way. If you're fortunate enough to gain the confidence of your manager, you'll be happy to get a good raise for a year or two, but Raytheon's frequent re-orgs will have you under a new and apathetic manager before you know it.
