Vantaggi
The compensation at General Dynamics AIS was good for the Pittsfield, MA area's cost of living, though it was below average for the defense industry. The 9/80 schedule provided a way for employees to enjoy more time at home with families, though it similarly cut in to the availability of flexible time. Yearly raises were typically adequate and the annual address from Lewis Von Thaer provided a way for employees to gauge the progress of the company relative to the work they had put in. Old and established, the company is strong financially and is virtually recession-proof as long as military intelligence and other information systems remain a government focus.
Svantaggi
Opportunities for intellectual growth are near non-existent unless courses are taken, and old and new engineers have very little inter-communication. This has left a knowledge gap that will become a more serious problem as older engineers begin retiring. Position recruitment is highly regionalized and removes much of the diversity from the workplace. After working other places, I see this lack of diversity not as an asset, but as a corporate detriment. New ideas are non-existent, and instead the old ideas continue to feed on the minimal number of engineer minds in the region (this is at least true in Pittsfield).