Vantaggi
I thorougly enjoyed working at Raytheon & only left for personal reasons but would definitely go back & definitely recommend this company. I found that people were very down to earth & respectful, and your job grade did not often come into play as a barrier. Productivity was appreciated & noticed, and was the basis for promotion instead of tenure. There are tons of opportunities to contribute & any improvement ideas or projects you thought of were encouraged. I feel like your career is in your own hands here and you can take advantage of opportunities to grow, and the opportunities for visibility & to work with senior management are there. I was rewarded more than I expected from my contributions, and was respected to manage my own job. Of course every team is different, and I did hear of many other perspectives, however I interacted with hundreds of people and rarely ever encountered any issues. Opportunities to cross train, work with multiple functions, and even cross over to a different function are all there if you plan your career path that way. Hands down, I think Raytheon is a great place to be, and is a place where you could definitely become a "lifer" and retire well.
Svantaggi
Upper management's ability to make decisions in a timely manner seems to be a challenge, but this would be a common thread with most companies of this size I would imagine. There can be a bit of bureaucracy to deal with, and many people who have been there for many years may be hesitant to change, but at long as you can communicate the benefits and take the proper actions with the appropriate levels you can obtain buy in. There are many "gray areas" in interpreting processes, and many different teams have a different method of doing things.