Pros
MITRE still has some pockets of stable, impactful work with very smart engineers and competent project/program leadership.
Cons
MITRE is in crisis - recent cuts to the various work programs MITRE supports has greatly impacted revenues... leading to several reductions in force this year alone. Unfortunately, it seems that the company is still not yet back on a sustainable path. How did we get here? Several years back, cuts to benefits began driving some of MITRE's best experts into retirement. MITRE's good growth "strategy"resulted in an effort do two things. First, it resulted in a big hiring push for recent college graduates. That is a fundamental (and not very differentiating) shift for a company like MITRE, where experts are sought to support some of Government's most challenging problems. Secondly, "Good Growth" resulted in foolish ventures such as MITRE Engenuity and Australia, as well as short-sighted investments like fancy new sites at locations with dubious business needs. All of these were at great expense. While this terrible "strategy" was being executed, MITRE's leadership makes various other critical mis-steps: 1. Under-estimates the importance of the business transformation efforts (which failed). 2. Polarized and disenfranchised the workforce through partisan messaging, site closures, [more] benefits reductions, identity politics, holding employees accountable for the failings of executive leadership, and jerking everyone back and forth on RTO policy. 3. Made bad bets, not just on Engenuity and Australia, but also on many, many (too many) sponsor projects which were aligned to only one side of the aisle... and were not viewed favorably nor continued under the administration change. 4. Completely botched communication for everything, including the above. Condesending, gaslighting, glad-handing leadership. Going to an all hands meeting or reading a benefits reduction email felt like listening to a used car salesman talk. Fast forward to the administration change in 2025 when MITRE begins to lose a lot of work due to shifting administration priorities... 1. MITRE has lost a good portion of its best people 2. Lots of recent graduates with very little domain knowledge or real-world experience. Lots of directors are hired with the same credentials. 3. You have an angry, unmotivated workforce without the necessary tools to do their jobs. Significant amounts of money have been spent on pet projects and ventures which have resulted in virtually nothing. MITRE begins the several reductions in force that I mentioned, but maintains the management bloat. Now, we are getting more expensive and trying to do the same with far less in terms of work... all the while seeing our colleagues picked off in RIFs on by one. And we continue to watch MITRE's Directors blow money and overpaid division staff burn TQ and overhead like nobody's business.