Vantaggi
Working at CalEPA, in general, is very inspiring because of the wide range of interesting, cutting edge environmental science occurring - policy and practice. If you are interested in being on the regulatory side of science, that can be exciting and feel like you're working to make a real difference. Climate change, pollution laws, water rights, environmental justice, human health - it all matters here and my co-workers (mostly) really want to make a positive difference. Massive retirement revving up over next few years so great time to join if you want to make it a career and advance. Big push to diversify workforce and build inclusive work culture.
Svantaggi
It is bureaucratic. Decisions can take a long time to be made. You can work on projects for years and then policy changes and the project suddenly ends without warning. Funding is tight. Old time employees taking up desk space and not contributing - waiting to retire. Like other comment - if you work well, you get more work, while other people appear to do little.