Bitching about being over worked or management snafus is a popular past time at JPL. When ever I've talked to a JPL employee about Mars Pathfinder (MPF), they'd always come back about all the divorces and broken families that resulted from MPF or more recent projects. They'd then go on about what a bunch of cynical jerks their managers are. If you visit JPL, you'll find that it's mostly young people who are working there. The whole staff seems to be replaced about every five years.

The situation is more relaxed at NASA Ames. However it is still feast or famine in terms of work load. When a big proposal comes, we're all running around like headless chickens. Then the proposal is finished and things get real quiet. The secret to success is to write software tools during the quiet times. If you can anticipate future requirements and have a bag of tricks (automated design tools) ready then you don't need to run with the headless chickens.

Gary