- most programs are not cutting-edge or fast-moving. This means if you stay in one place for too long, you could fail to maintain or develop your skills (despite corporate mantras to "continue learning"). That is career suicide. So you have to frequently look for new experiences to keep you sharp.
- on that note, technical challenges are lacking; there's a high dependency on building from heritage. that's low risk, but not really exciting or difficult. it amounts to busy-work.
- it's difficult to be widely recognized as a high performer without entering one of the leadership development programs. These exist at several career levels, but I can see how NOT being in one can really hurt your progression here.
- if you'd like to move to a smaller company eventually, being at Lockheed could make that difficult. You might become dependent on the processes LM has in place and fail in a smaller company; even if you're great, other companies will certainly fear that this is the case.
- Even if varied experiences are easy to find, promotions have decreased in recent years. So you have to push harder for them.
- yes, layoffs happen, but they happen everywhere. Make sure you're on a program that's funded.
