If they could do less for you they would
Pros
The local (Asheville) top management is very reasonable and personable, and are good people at heart. They have your back, as much as can be expected, and mean well. It's easy to shine at a company where most of the good people walk when they find greener pastures (I loved the job itself and so stayed in spite of having to work under ERT's management). They expect very little from you other than showing up and not upsetting the government managers enough to demand your dismissal. It's a cushy job if you're able to muster an iota of enthusiasm, initiative, or proactivity. I worked with total clock-punchers who surfed reddit all day and were tolerated for years, so the bar was pretty low -- I was made to feel like a rock star for just doing what should have been expected of a professional engineer. The work they allowed access to was very interesting if you love science like I do. No company is perfect to work for, it could have been worse.
Cons
It's a company that succeeds primarily by compensating you as little as they can get away with, and it shows. If they could value you less and keep you around they would (no different than any other company, I guess, but boy does it show here). There's no obvious malice on anyone's part, it's just the game they're in and to succeed (i.e. win government contracts) they have to provide employees at the lowest possible cost. Over eight years I was offered no training, raises/bonuses were a joke (at least I received them, others were not as fortunate), and repeated attempts to get a more ergonomic workstation were met by excuse after excuse. When dealing with corporate headquarters I had the feeling that they were the C-students at school, probably as a result of ERT's practice of hiring at the low end of the pay scale. Their idea of a benefit is offering a reduced cost on clothing emblazoned with their company logo (so you can do some free advertising for them).
