Pros
-You will work with some of the brightest and most interesting people ever. -Bad benefits in comparison to Rand/IDA due to current CEO putting his own career ahead of the company and people, but better benefits than many for-profit jobs -Lots of opportunities to shape your work and who you actually support. Unlike other contracting type companies, you will generally not be pushed into working for only one sponsor. This allows you to expand your career and grow. There are some places that will try to stop you from working for any other team, which is a perfect red flag to immediately start looking for a new team or department.
Cons
-Truly an awful executive staff that prioritized their own careers, pay, and comfort over everything else. Truly should be investigated for implementing rules that threaten national security to make their daily jobs “lanyard free.” -Current CEO suppressed dissent by shutting down channels staff use to share complaints and pay -Current CEO is obviously an outdated relic who doesn’t understand WFH and thinks sitting in an empty office all day near none of your team is better for productivity. -Executive staff has been gutted of all dissenting opinions by current CEO -Benefits are being rolled back by current CEO as he touts how profitable we have become and how much extra cash reserves we have. -Current CEO does not like anyone over 35 and has made it clear that the change in benefits is meant to harm them and push them out of the company. -Lack of investment in training. For a company that puts on its own training, it is impossible to actually sign up for any of this. Expect to not get any follow-on job training -A pathetic lack of lab space due to current executive staff prioritizing vanity project (MITRE 3/4) over long term investment in the companies staff and research. For a “research and development” company, we do laughably little in either. -Almost no work or investment in climate change. -A change in dynamics has led to the company becoming increasingly a body shop for sponsors instead of providing independent oversight and analysis as required by our entire foundational purpose.