The art of doing nothing - Lead Computer Scientist MITRE Employee Review

1.0
12 Mar 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Job stability if you exclude the fact that many employees, due to the lack of management support, need to look for projects by themselves, often resulting in using personal/vacation time, frustration and work of random projects.

Cons

Anyone looking for professional development and growth should avoid this company in a wide circle. The working culture is very much the opposite of what is being advertised. In a nutshell, lack of opportunities to work on challenging projects and develop technical/leadership skills and lack of cooperation among peers and different groups lead to professional stagnation and unsatisfaction among employees. Since many people at MITRE have never worked at any other company, it is relatively easy to sell them a story about how great MITRE is. This virtually unknown company even gives itself a right to compare itself with big tech giants such as Google or Microsoft, but 99% of people there would not survive on the competitive job market. People's skills get quickly obsolete due to the lack of proper training, project opportunities, and desire to stay current. In many cases, managers are young inexperienced people who didn't have time to develop the necessary skills to lead a group of scientists/engineers but are selected based on their cultural fit. This is only possible in a place where ownership and accountability are low, and there are no consequences for the job not done. If you are a mid-career professional and have an advanced degree (MSc, PhD), and still want to join this place — make sure you understand the level at which you are hired. You will most likely end up at the same level as kiddos with 2-4 years of experience after college. As you will be considered too old, you will be overlooked for job promotions, and needless to say, your salary will not even catch with the inflation.

Explore other reviews about MITRE

5.0
5 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work life balance, not too competitive

Cons

Slightly lower comp compared to other for profit companies in the area

3.0
23 Jan 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great diversity, quality of life and staff. Been with MITRE over 20 years.

Cons

Too many VP,s that are not held accountable. Company recently RIF'd 24 staff from FAA FFRDC, due to dropping gov't funding...yet company has significant number of VPs all sucking off of overhead. No attempt to manage money within the "leadership" ranks. Last year company went through a major business transformation...that failed...yet, VPs held staff accountable for reporting on a subpar system that lasted over 12 months. Could not even get business data to report to gov't for over 2 months, yet, person who was in charge of the business transformation is still at MITRE. If this happened to any other MITRE employee, they would've been gone. Oddly enough the person in charge of the business transformation is the CEOs brother. Amazing how that happens. He'll probably get a bonus because of his substandard performance. MITRE recently invested in opening up an office in Australia. All on company overhead. significant large numbers of VPs travelling out to "visit"...yet company has the audacity to reduce benefits as part of cost cutting measures. Company has now taken on a "for profit" mentality. It's all about delivery... so VPS and GMs can spend, spend, spend. Board of Directors should take a good look at what is happening and make some swift changes from the CEO on down. BOD should also implement an independent IG like entity to investigate what is seeming like waste, fraud and abuse by CEO, GMs and VPs. Time for the Fat Cats to get purged!!!

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