Vantaggi
I was attracted to the apparent stability; a lot of interns were converted to full-time regular employees after graduation, and non-matching retirement was offered. I genuinely feel like I learned a lot from working with sponsors. Everyone I’ve worked with has been smart and welcoming. Hybrid works well for me - I do largely stay in my office when I’m in-person, but I can still meet people for lunch (the cafeteria food ranges from tolerable to good, and it’s relatively cheap for the region). There are also opportunities to commiserate within my division. I came in at the tail end of the last CEO and people seem to like the new CEO much more.
Svantaggi
I feel like I’m trapped in limbo between being a real employee and a fake employee. Summer 2024 interns have had full-time offers rescinded or delayed as a result of the current landscape. Morale is not great right now. Another review on here mentions that newer employees don’t have to search for new work themselves - that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When the contract I was initially hired on ended, I had to network for new projects on my own. Even before the federal cuts, I heard murmurs about there being far more employees than available projects. Having projects doesn’t mean you’ll be safe from RIFs as other reviews have mentioned, or even that you’ll have tasks to do. I’ve tried to take initiative and do things for projects without being asked, but that only goes so far, and I’ve been told by project leads that “there’s just nothing to do right now.” Interns are sold on the intern learning tracks while interviewing, but they’re not as robust as they could be. The tracks are largely tech/engineering focused, leading interns in certain departments to opt out entirely. Interns (and L1-L2 staff in general) are also locked out of certain internal training opportunities. My manager approved my participation in an internal soft skills training but the trainers rejected me because I was not an L4 or above. Interns also could not participate in a multi-week training designed for early career professionals, which is frustrating because we ARE early career. If you’re the kind of person who likes name recognition on your work product, consider whether you’re willing to give that up here. Most presentations and reports given to sponsors will have MITRE’s name, not individual contributors. Also, the diversity officer has left the company after being removed from the public website.