Pros
- A good chance to work on a network of interacting systems - A good chance to work with other system engineers and teamwork - Working on problems of different nature which will enable you to learn and not to be bored - A good chance to travel (but will be working huge hours of overtime) - Flexible schedule - It's a quite stable job
Cons
- There is no proper plan in place and this translates into lots of priorities change sometimes even on a daily basis. - The proper organizational order is not practiced, so anyone with a task on hand may show up at your desk demanding to have his task done first. - There is a high level of stress that translates itself into colleagues passing the tasks around without doing their part first, making the work inefficient and good works not recognized. - Overtime/ night shifts / weekend work happen quite often and often without much advance notice. - It's very possible that you learn from your colleague that you're about to go on a field trip in two days.( on a higher scale, some decisions are made which affect you, without consulting you) - While you'll learn about the systems, you won't advance much in learning new technologies as they evolve. - The lower level managers are not experienced and at times are not well orchestrated, demanding conflicting tasks or directions. - At times promotions/replacements are not in the best interest of the company. - You will be prone to micromanagement.