Pros
I met some really awesome people at SSL and gained valuable industry experience; however, innovation has stalled and most of the talented engineers have left the company.
Cons
If you haven't been working here for 10+ years and aren't super tight with the right people, there is no path for career development. There is a culture of seniority over qualification, so don't be surprised to see less qualified, but more senior people get promoted over you. While there are a few solid senior engineers who would mentor you, most senior engineers are so insecure about their job, they will go on a personal mission to make your life miserable, especially if you are in the minority demographics (i.e. not a white male). They will assume that new to the company = no experience, and treat you with utter disrespect. If you google SSL + Maxar, you will get the recent turmoil surrounding this company. Management think reorg is the solution to every single problem, which means there's a reorg every 6 months or so. As a result, the company has been hemmoraging talent...and once you start to see the people you respect leave, it's a pretty darn good sign to follow their lead. Pay is laughably pathetic, and any request of promotion/raise will be deferred citing "reorg." You can get at least 25% raise, if not 50% for the same kind of job anywhere else in the Bay Area.