Ventajas
You do get a check, benefits, and you really don't need experience or a degree to work here. In fact, no degree and being completely clueless is absolute management material! You can go straight to the top, all you need to do is yell as loud as you can, complain, and pick the less efficient ideas. I know it is hard but trust me it will get you on the fast track to join the senior leadership team!
Desventajas
I'll go straight to the point. It is a horrible work environment and I don't wish it to my worst enemy. In the airborne side, you can be managed by 5 guys, I am not kidding, five different persons who can be your direct manager! Each pulling you in their own direction. Stopping frequently to micromanage your work, pulling you over to five different one hour meetings every day, and then complaining about why the work isn't done! It is somewhat ridiculous. The beauty of it is that they know absolutely nothing about radars and RF systems! If you have an opportunity ask them during your phone interview about how a radio, RF System, or an antenna works. They have no clue. However, that's what they manage! Not to mention they are actually antique radars, they need to hire you because the equipment is so old that when a slight wind blows the equipment just falls apart! So they hire engineers and technicians, not to do any engineering but to be mechanics, to remove and replace components, to fix up the old test equipment. If you can't figure out what's wrong within one hour? Then you are tagged as someone incompetent! What? it is going to take a week to fix it? You are a lazy incompetent person. If you need parts, cables, or tools to repair it, there is no money so good luck! However, if you are an UFC fan or mixed martial arts enthusiast you can go to the Battlefield area where you can watch two guys go at it in a fist fight over an incorrect assembly instruction document. I mean people are fans and passionate, not kidding a fight can break out any minute, like the two folks that went at it back in June. Here, when they really mean to fight for their rights, they do mean it! It's a bloody work so if you plan to work here you better train and practice some sort of martial arts. If you dare to come to work for the Multiplatform/Electronic Warfare area be advised. This is really old antique equipment that came from Goleta, CA, and I thought airborne equipment was old, was I fooled! The test equipment never works, and they won't buy new equipment as that would be spending precious manager's bonus money. Instead, following the same recipe that the airborne guys do, they will hire engineers and technicians to fix the lame test equipment. I haven't seen equipment that will continue to break over and over again, forming a vicious management panic, world ending cycle. The equipment can be over 30 years old! However, some managers have the guts, because it really takes guts, to ask why does the test equipment need repairs. Of course no money to repair it, and most of the parts are obsolete, so this would be a total nightmare, avoid this business area like the plague! Management, as a general rule in Forest, MS, regardless of the area, abide by the Forest Principle. Basically, the last guy who touched the equipment broke it and is fully responsible for all problems. He must be labeled as an idiot and must be disciplined! (Disciplined is the code word for getting yelled at and chewed at!) They don't care if you just press the Power On button and it didn't turn on! Hell an old incadecent light bulb can go bad and they expect you that without breaking the glass, and letting the gas escape that you fix the Tungsten filament. I mean why not buy a $1.00 light bulb? That would be a dollar less in manager's bonus money a dollar is a dollar. About the people in the plant, there are quite a few characters in the plant, particularly folks in leadership positions who think they are some sort of Forest God, and no matter how stupid it seems, if God tells you to jump off the cliff you better jump off the cliff! The Sr. guy at the plant recently told everyone during an all-hands meeting, we are understaffed, we continue to loose people, as no one wants to stay in this middle of no-where town, therefore, all of us must put in overtime, and work weekends to compensate for being way under staffed. The sad part of it, is that given the low wages that are paid to a lot of folks they don't mind the overtime for the extra cash. They don't value their time, and basically don't even have cash to take a vacation! They get paid the bare minimums to pay their mortgages, bills, and maybe there will be some beer money left. However, you are always expected to meet deadlines, schedules, and do it under budget! Therefore, you better know how to design a time machine, or a time stopping device as without them, there would be no way you would meet the managers schedule and comply with decisions and regulations. Oh yeah, about that, we have been told to not follow standards here in Forest! So if you see a device clearly having problems, and you are not willing to say that the device is okay and good to go, when it clearly is not, this is not the job for you. This is what we call in Forest taking one for the team and being a team player. I mean according to management here, the device can always get damaged during shipping but never during production! Or if you refer back to the Forest Principle, the person who received it, or shipped it is the responsible party! Yes this plant has one of the highest quality standards ever! I mean other than work what is there to do in Forest? Absolutely, Nothing! There's no airport so you can't leave. So come to work, stay at work, forget about working to live, here we only live to work as once you are in, then Raytheon will own your mind, your body, and your soul. Stay away! Work elsewhere! You have been warned!