Vantaggi
Great "tribal" knowledge. Very focused on low power/long battery life product design. No shortcuts re. product quality/reliability (DoD influence does have a positive effect...) Great physical environment, Caltrain/Lightrail access. Compensation & benefits, even after a recent lay-off (Feb. '11) still have a 401k match, whereas most firms "yanked" that in the recent "Great Reccession." No day-to-day influence of "Big Brother" Lockheed (tho increased Lockheed oversight of "purse strings" now in place, so that could well change...).
Svantaggi
Extremely political- most I've seen in a 35 year career! CYA is the guiding principle... Feel like the only person in the company with actual experience re. 3rd party (i.e., ODM/OEM/JDM) type product development/rebranding, whereas pretty common the past decade, or two, in the Valley. Still very "vertical" organization; "matrix" project teams and sense of common goals is fairly lacking.