Pros
Great mission. Public generally likes NASA, good branding and reputation. A lot of good, smart people who are enthusiastic about Space and really care about the Agency and mission.
Cons
Disclaimer: these are based on my experiences and observations, just like any large organization, experiences will vary depending on where in NASA you work and your role. Management and leadership not as good as I expected: They say they care about people, but actions haven’t reflected that in my experience. A lot of people are simply overworked. I’ve seen and experienced a fair amount of burnout in my time at NASA. Seems like everything is a priority which all must be done perfectly, done right now. Always looking for quick fixes/silver bullets to solve deep and complex organizational and culture issues. Unclear vision, expectations, and direction at various levels leads to a lot of rework/“bring a rock” and chaos/crisis management. The worst, most toxic supervisor I’ve had in my 20+ year career was at NASA, hands down. Numerous concerns and complaints about them were raised by team members and people from other organizations. Took a long time for leadership to address this, and too much damage done by the time they did. Budget: There never seems to be enough budget, which doesn’t help, but constantly hearing things like “do more with less”, “just do it!”, “just be more efficient” and “gotta get in the box”aren’t exactly inspirational, motivational, nor helpful. Culture: Organizations (directorates, programs, enterprise offices, centers, etc) and a lot of people seem to only care about themselves. Very siloed. Definitely felt a good old boys club vibe. Definitely not a diverse workforce, especially in management and leadership. Heard a lot of talk and saw plenty of performative/check the box type of actions around DEIA during the Biden Administration. Also, I’ve never seen the agency move so fast on anything after the order was issued to remove anything DEI from websites, contracts, workspaces, etc. Very resistant and sensitive to change. A lot of employees, managers, and leaders have been here for most of or all their entire careers. New ideas, outside perspectives, basically anything not “the NASA way” or “the way we’ve always done it” is met with a lot of resistance and harsh criticism. Workspaces are not modern: A lot of old and outdated facilities and infrastructure that’s definitely not in the best condition. Probably due to years of deferring maintenance to address other issues or buy new shiny things. The workspaces and systems are not as high tech as I expected. A lot of MS Excel and PowerPoint, and every organization seems to have their own management systems and tools.