Pros
Got to work on some awesome parts. I was proud to work on all kinds of airplane and rocket parts castings. Pay is good. Non union. Benefits were decent.
Cons
1. The politics. Every person is trying to constantly through each other under the bus. The management in the manual machine shop is all about intimidation and childish tantrums. 2. Overtime wasn't mandatory but god forbid you don't come in like a doctor on call for emergency surgery and not get harassed. I never heard the end of it. 3.Possibly the most irritating part is the fattest, laziest, and least productive workers get paid the most and get to hog every single holiday and shift. They get first pick on everything. Nothing is based on merit only seniority. 4. Don't dare bring up suggestions or outside knowledge to the job. As someone with formal 2 year training as a machinist (very few others did) it was painful to watch some of the stuff and have management completely disregard or even humiliate for offering advice to make things better. Most of my coworkers did not appreciate feeling dumb when they realized they barely know how a dial indicator works. The work culture here is like crabs in a bucket. If any of this sounds like an exaggeration, I guarantee you it's not.