Pros
Working in Waterton Canyon is nice. Beautiful campus and some cool projects. Working for Lockheed Martin can be endearing when participating in meaningful projects.
Cons
Poor work environment. Salaried employees are treated like hourly employees. Hours are counted to the minute, and overtime is expected to be copious regardless of its actual need. During yearly reviews you will be scalded if you haven't "donated" time to the company in the form of uncompensated overtime. Even if an outstanding job was done, managers will ding you on not "donating" enough overtime. This essentially lowers you hourly rate, making us all hourly employees. Salaried!? You have got to be kidding me. If I finish tasks for the day I'm expected to sit at my desk and look at the clock. Benefits leave little to be desired. I pay $400 a month for family benefits. That's $2400 a year more than my last government contracting job! They make the employee pay for all kinds of services they will never use. They basically run their own health insurance company, and it is done poorly. The 401k is garbage. Really means a lot to me that the company is contributing a whole 4% to my retirement, they call the salaried savings plan. This contribution is laughable, and will not be a variable when I consider leaving. further, they try to make you think they care by giving you 1% off the top the first year. Then another 1% in year two, and another in year three with the capital accumulation plan (CAP). This plan is negligible at best for someone like me who can't get out the door fast enough. My time is money, time with my family and extremely important to me. This company (SSC) is not family friendly. If you are starting a new family as I am, do your family a favor and pass on this company. Job satisfaction is the lowest I have ever experienced. The people I work with have been with the company 25 years +. They are all on the hook to keep their pension. So, they can't leave to improve their personal capital without losing a % of their pension. They have worked so long to get to this point they will do just about anything the company asks to keep it. They are disgruntled. This leads to poor job performance, resulting in late projects. For example GOES-R is over a year late for launch. Management doesn't care because they are in the same position. Also, it doesn't appear from my low vantage point in the organization that management is held accountable for anything. Most managers have been promoted to their personal level of incompetence. I plan on getting away from this place as fast as I can. Oh. One more thing. Lower the dang price of food in the cafeteria. Stop trying to get your money back by charging an arm and a leg for food. Reminds me of a casino getting your winnings. That leads me to the lack of places to go to lunch. Since they nickel and dime us for time, the drive into town for lunch is a sacrifice. 40 minute round trip to good eats. That doesn't count the eating part...
