Since COVID (calendar year 2020), it appears that MITRE is on a downward spiral from a lot of perspectives that I can't grasp my head around as to the macro source:
1. Benefits are shrinking - eliminated the increase of benefits for long-term employees. Shrunk available Civic time. No longer rewarding employees for finishing a degree (*was* a 10k bonus).
2. Management seems to be more hostile - CEO, VPs, Tech Directors, Department Managers, and even Group Leaders. It appears management is more and more frustrated with the people above them and that trickles down to individual contributors. Upcoming change in the in-office policy? Don't worry, even Tech Directors don't know what's going on and are open about that. Changes to available training budget? Don't worry, management just points fingers at one another (and there's enough managers so that the buck never stops with anyone).
3. Work program appears to be shrinking (less available work) - Despite having a rather large network at MITRE, finding "good work" is harder and harder as time goes by. Perhaps this is a result to me maturing, and thus I'm looking for better work, but I find myself having to settle for work rather than excited for work. It doesn't help that a lot of my peers also have a hard time finding work so it essentially feels like we're competing against one another. Lots of great people at MITRE have left due to this.
4. Opportunities/promotions are hard to get (for some) - MITRE is not a great place for early-to-mid career folks because you're largely seen as early career until....you're not. By most standards, I'm not early career anymore but when it comes to promotions and opportunities, I've been overtly told that I am. It's really frustrating that I'm managing folks two Steps above me and I don't feel rewarded for it.
5. Morale is low - current Glassdoor ratings are relatively representative of the morale at MITRE right now. There's obviously a more negative twist but that shouldn't detract from the overall sentiment - it's bad. The CEO was doing monthly calls until he just stopped with zero explanation and it was most likely because it wasn't helping the company. Division meetings are 50% complaining about senior management decisions and 50% trying to create a culture.
I constantly ask myself "why am I staying at MITRE?" and the answer to that question get's smaller and smaller by the month. The reasons I stay (benefits, people, work) appear to be diminishing and/or being eliminated.
I have actively told friends who want to work for MITRE to....apply elsewhere. It's not necessarily a doom and gloom situation for MITRE but the current "picture" of MITRE is not really something I'm proud to bring people into. It's frustrating, demoralizing, and upsetting that MITRE is like this today.
