Pros
Working for NASA at any center is pretty exciting. I knew the work I was doing was contributing to cutting-edge discoveries in science and many employees are incredibly bright and dedicated. It truly felt like I was doing work that mattered and led to a better understanding of the universe. I was proud to work for NASA.
Cons
I worked for NASA for more than 30 years. When I first started, it was incredibly family friendly and I knew that I could count on management's support when there was a death in the family or an illness that required time off. Maybe it was more the difference in bosses rather than a policy change at NASA but my last boss was critical and uncaring. He knew that I had an ill child but never asked about how things were going at home (all of my other bosses understood that home life can seriously affect life at work) but instead decided to put me in a situation where my only real choice was to retire. It felt like they wanted to "encourage" long term employees to leave in order to get in employees that would cost less in benefits. I would have rather they be up-front with me rather than the underhanded way that my situation was handled.
