Pros
The hours are flexible to a point. It's easy to make friends with peers. Working on a funded project that attracts little internal attention can be great.
Cons
The management, at least in my department, exercised hostility and retribution against employees. They desperately and painfully micromanaged to the point of fanaticism. They often lied or exaggerated to me and my coworkers. Management above them generally seem in the dark as far as day to day tasks, programs, and employee strengths and weaknesses. I was one of many younger engineers that left my department in a three or four month window--over twenty-five people, mostly younger engineers, left my group over the four years I worked at Bell. At the time of my departure, my group featured three managers and maybe fifteen to twenty people--the company is drowning in managers, directors, and executives. The promotion and employee review schemes are almost totally opaque. Management and HR offer conflicting perspectives. Managers will lowball prospective employees on salary. If you choose to interview with Bell, ask high, and refuse if they don't give you what you want. The leadership team seems more interested in protecting short term profits than investing in the longer term RD necessary in aerospace companies. Bell provides little incentive to improve; incompetent coworkers receive the same promotions and perks as the competent engineers. Management refuses to pay for training. Management switches engineers on and off tasks with almost no concern for the affected projects. I was transferred from one loaner group to another project, and management forbade me to answer questions from the group that lost me. The person I replaced received similar instructions--answer none of my questions. When I challenged management on this issue, they retaliated against me. They even confessed (!) to me that they were retaliating. The bureacracy of Bell is positively metastatic--the org charts look like Christmas tree lights. The groups compete with one another for resources and projects, falling in and out of favor with the leadership team. If you anger another group's manager, don't be surprised if they refuse to offer any help at best, deliberately cause your group trouble at worst. My manager admitted to another group that we did a poor job on their work one year because they cut us out of the budget on another year. Supporting groups (groups existing solely to support other groups) such as timekeeping can be very unfriendly--they sometimes will resort to petty threats and calls to supervisors if you disagree with them. The facilities are utterly dilapidated; I was often embarassed to show customers around. Some grossly incompetent engineers remain in their positions solely because of seniority--expect an uphill battle if you challenge them. It seems that gladhanding, spying for management, and smooth talking covers many a fault. I watched some engineers repeatedly pitch more modern techniques and approaches, only to have the entrenched, older engineers stymie their suggestions. Management either offered nodding assent to the stalwarts or actively undercut the proponents of new ideas. BHTI doesn't seem ready for the 21st century; the leadership model of fear and intimidation persists like a cancer, and it is strangling the life out of the Bell legacy.
