Pros
- Recession-proof, iron rice-bowl - Relatively high pay and generous benefits - Forgiving of mistakes (sometimes too forgiving) - Friendly and helpful colleagues, and toxic people don't last long - It is 100% possible to leave office on time every day, if you want - Accessible and approachable top leadership - Strong sense of mission and purpose (generally) - Interesting and unique work that cannot be found anywhere else - Home to brilliant software engineers who are experts in their domain - Work can be very fulfilling if you resonate with the mission and purpose - Can see serious effort by management and progress in improving employee experience and work effectiveness
Cons
- Red tape makes it arduous to obtain resources needed to work effectively - Engineering work sometimes does not get its due respect, because centre of gravity is more on managerial and supervisory work (DSTA is not an engineering company) - Poor spoken/written communication between colleagues because spoken language is not standardised, and language proficiency is neither required nor enforced - Hostile and adversarial relationship at the working level between some Programme Centres - Mediocrity is tolerated - Unprofessional behaviour is tolerated