Is is really that great working for a Fortune 500 company?

With the possibility of a merger at any moment and the prospect of job cutting, it is not what it used to be.    It can be harrowing  worrying about your future, particularly when you may be close to retirement.

I work for GE, and although there are definitely some things about working for a big monster like GE that can be intimidating, or seem undesirable, I feel there are other things that make it very beneficial.  For one, there is a lot of flexibility there.  GE can afford to invest in it's employees much more so then any small engineering firm (I should mention I'm  an engineer) could.  Things like training, additional schooling, mentoring, social employee events, family events, etc.  Plus a lot of these bigger companies invest heavily in there image and culture.  GE strives to be perceived as a family friendly company, hence it is highly encouraged to allow employees flexibility (such as flexible work schedules, working remotely, etc) to accommodate individual family situations.

They also like to be seen as veteran friendly, so they gobble up as many as they can. 

I obviously can't vouch for every big beast of a company out there, but I've been pretty happy working for the big blue GE machine thus far. 

I just wish people didn't assume I design washing machines when I tell them I work for GE.....

I've worked on both ends of the spectrum. Interestingly enough, the 1st smaller company I worked for basically collapsed under the economic down turn in in 2008, and the 2nd smaller company I worked that was under the umbrella of larger corporate entity, well that corporation was bought by a larger corporation, and decided to trim the structure and by that I mean downsized. 

Currently I work for a very large company, and there is far more security in the position--although I agree with other posts that job security is almost a misnomer today--but career progression is much slower.