Pros
There is a genuine sense of community at Goddard... Whether you consider Goddard Day, the numerous after work sports clubs, science clubs, collectors groups, theater troupes, professional development sessions (Toastmasters to what not to wear), car clubs, or shooting clubs; the sense of community at Goddard combined with its technical excellence and pervasive philanthropic, educational, and genuine volunteer spirit is readily palpable in every corner of the center, almost all the time! What's more, the end-to-end spacecraft and scientific instrument lifecycle facilitated at Goddard presents work which simply can't be found anywhere else in the world... If you're a scientist or engineer, or even an accountant or businessperson, you'll thrive onto unique and engagingly-challenging technical solutions you'll be asked to generate, with no margin for failure (i.e. you only launch once, either it works or you fish it out of the ocean :-) and a sense of unbridled joy as your team succeeds, 96% of the time. At Goddard, you have opportunity to contribute to something larger than yourself, larger than any of us really... It was Goddard science that elucidated Global Warming, and it was Goddard instruments which showed you Mars up close and personal, no matter what JPL says :-). And, it is Goddard who showed you Jupiter last year and Saturn this year, with new and unexpected scientific breakthroughs/understandings literally arriving by the minute. Now who wouldn't want to be a part of that!!!
Cons
Only two things really... #1: If you are so fortunate as to remain or excel at Goddard long enough to achieve a middle to upper management position, you will become a political target. Elected politicians will try to blame their messes on you and your department's best efforts; lower-level employees will bring problems rather than solutions to your door day in and day out, most of which aren't even new problems; there is a myriad of intangible politically-motivated milestones/checkboxes one will need to achieve or pay homage to if there is to be any expectation to enter managements ranks; the list goes on... Fundamentally, Goddard is, in part, a stereotypical manifestation of US Federal bureaucracy with all its pedantic nuances and nitpicky trimmings; however, so long as you can stand DC Political Air, anyone fortunate or talented enough to shatter the GS 14 Management glass ceiling while retaining a genuinely childlike passion for Science & Engineering can thrive here. The second complaint seems both fundamental and ubiquitous in Federal service... The pay sucks and the cost of living and and around DC sucks worse!!!
