Pros
Decent pay and benefits Decent promotion Ability to make lateral moves to different departments Possibly cool stuff to work with
Kontras
A bunch of little stuff that adds up. -Paying for parking (Up to $140/month expense) -Traffic in the area (One lane road for about 10,000 workers) -The computer systems are frustrating, disorganized, and in many cases built on ideas that are about 30 years old. It's not that the computers themselves are that old, but the way work is done is very antiquated, and desperately needs to be updated. -Bringing me to my next issue (a bigger one). The place is very resistant to change. Ideas for how to improve a system, how to change a process, etc. are often met with the attitude of "Well. this is just how it's done here." Meaning there are often times when stupid nonsense gets in the way of doing work, or doing work better. I have been working there for a short time, but I am no stranger to government work (Military for 8 years), and this place takes the cake for paperwork, bureaucracy, and painfully slow pace of getting some things done. Keep in mind, this is all from the nuclear engineering work side of the yard. I can't speak for what it is like other places.