I'll echo BigRed's sentiments above (I'm late to this party, I know)...
I became a SWO in the late 00's and have witnessed a proverbial sea change in the community since then:
-We are operating the best ships of the line in the world right now. We've had some great platforms, weapons, and systems, come online recently with more to come in the near future. For all of the shit it gets, LCS is getting up-gunned and will pack a pretty nice punch for a small combatant. The latest DDG/CG technology is a massive leap forward (SM-6, NIFC-CA, MFTA, Mk 54, -60R, etc). This all makes an AEGIS warship a pretty nasty opponent for the bad guys, from the sea floor to space. None of this existed when I was an ENS...
-Shipboard culture is slowly improving. We're still SWOs, but it's the little things... Toxic leaders are treated like a cancer. Ships are adopting more common-sense "circadian" watch rotations that allow people to sleep better. Turns out, if you don't feel like a zombie, you're a more effective watch stander, you do a better job as a DIVO, and people tend to be less douchy to each other.
-New professional opportunities are pretty cool. Want to live in San Francisco and work at Twitter for a few years, or get a top-20 MBA, or go to grad school for 2 years in between your DIVO tours? You can do that now as a SWO (and a lot more). Also, a 40% increase in the DH bonus is nice. Again, all new stuff since I was an ENS...
-We've seen a significant shift in focus towards becoming more operational. Between WTI, PTO, SAO, SWATT, SWTC, etc- I get it, it's acronym soup, but the actual programs don't really matter to my point- the community has made significant investments to ensure that we are a very effective flighting force.
All this said, not making any SWO vs XXX community arguments here; just noting that it's a very interesting time in the surface community, especially as a JO.