Vantaggi
The first 8 years there would probably get 4-5 stars, but the last 2 years could be rated only 3 stars (see cons). -Interesting technical work (and lots of it to do, in a good way!) -Lots of very talented people to work with -Ability to move within the company to gain experience in different domains -Reasonably flexible hours, 9/80 schedule -Educational assistance -Impressively stable employment for such a volatile industry, layoffs are *very* infrequent and small.
Svantaggi
All years: -Very slow to accept and use new software technologies and tools (but getting better) -Slow promotions, even for top rated employees, unless you are one of the chosen few to be fast-tracked. Then your promotions come really quickly. Very unbalanced in that regard. -Your section/department managers can be at a completely different facility doing completely different work than you. They end up not knowing anything about your performance firsthand. I saw my section manager twice a year, at mid and end of year review times. Last couple years: -Company seemed to be on the downturn in the last two years. Any perk or benefit that they could justify cutting or reducing, they did (including reducing/cutting yearly raises for many). They literally begged employees to find anything that could possibly save a buck. This reduced morale and confidence in the company's future. -Company lost many experienced and talented engineers through voluntary attrition due to the above. Salaries/benefits for people in this category started to lag way behind (by as much as 30-50%!) those outside the company/industry. It could be more of a defense industry-wide phenomenon than just at Raytheon.