The giant defense contractor probably has amazing projects once you get past the paperwork. If you want to change the world, well there you go. You probably won

The giant defense contractor probably has amazing projects once you get past the paperwork. If you want to change the world, well there you go. You probably won't work overtime, but if you do there are federal limits before they have to pay you extra. Age discrimination is unlikely. The university is probably interesting. Actual pay is probably terrible, but you might get free tuition for your kids. The "couple of hardware companies" sounds promising. That might be real programming, with C or even assembly.