Engineer Role in Name, Legacy Reality in Practice
Pros
• Teammates are supportive and willing to share knowledge • Transition from military service was administratively smooth • Mission alignment resonates, especially for veterans
Cons
• Compensation lags the market. Base pay is well below current entry‑level security benchmarks, and the ESOP does not meaningfully offset the gap for early‑career employees trying to keep up with today’s cost of living. • ESOP is long‑term, pay issues are immediate. Ownership is emphasized heavily, but vesting timelines and entry pricing make it impractical as near‑term compensation, especially for newer hires. • Tooling is outdated for modern security work. Many security processes rely on legacy systems and manual workflows. This limits hands‑on experience with current industry tools and practices. • Leadership lacks security background. Several managers have not held security engineering roles themselves, which makes it difficult to provide clear technical direction or mentorship. • Skill development is constrained. Expectations exist to “learn on the fly,” but structured training, modern tooling exposure, and defined growth paths are limited.