Pros
Raytheon has "modified time", which allows you to work extra hours one week to take time off the following week. For example, you could work 50 hours weeks A and B, and then work only 20 hours on week C. The flexibility allows you to extend your PTO, as well as letting you adapt to everyday life demands like doctor appointments, long weekend trips, etc. Everybody I have met so far has been really, really nice.
Cons
Unless you plan on staying at Raytheon the rest of your life, DO NOT WORK HERE. You will gain no skills relevant to any other company in the tech industry as Raytheon is still using tech tools and programming languages from the stone age. Since I have started working, I have learned nothing that is worth putting on my resume (and nothing that I thought was worth learning to begin with). The company has a huge problem with retaining employees because of this, but they refuse to adapt and use innovative technologies. So again, unless you plan on staying at Raytheon the rest of your life, in which case Clearcase, iTracker, and other derelict tools might be of some worth, DON'T WORK HERE. Until you get a security clearance, you are more or less worthless and treated as such. Some of my coworkers sat for several months doing absolutely nothing. You have to log 40 hours per week to every 6th minute. This means that rather than being results oriented, the work becomes more time-oriented. It also means that even if you finish everything you were given and have nothing to do, you have to sit at your desk until you are finished. Sometimes you will be assigned tasks that are not remotely relevant to your position. A systems engineer coworker was assigned financial reporting for the foreseeable future - they are also looking for a new job. There are so many problems and everybody is talking about them, yet upper management is doing absolutely nothing to solve them (other than making fancy graphs to show you how enormous the problems are in the first place). Working here was the worst decision of my life. It doesn't get better, so save yourself the hope and don't work here. Also, don't feel flattered if they hire you - they are desperate and the hiring process is a joke. Finally, compensation for my industry is way below average.
