I'll try to explain the SWO vs. "other warfare specialties" thing in relation to the thread topic. Most officers (DIVO, Department Head, XO and CO) in most warfare specialties WANT you to succeed. That said, there are always a few who for some selfish reason don't play well with others. Maybe it's a defective Type A personality thing, maybe their gene pool was tainted sometime in the past....it doesn't matter. I think the SWO community gets more negative attention in this regard as they tend to be in the limelight on the ship more often than say an aviator. A SWO has his/her hands in a lot of pots on the ship every minute of the day, so when something doesn't go well or breaks and your name is attached to it, you tend to get LOTS of attention. And when a DIVO gets negative attention, DH's get the same and XO's sometimes get the same from the CO- you get the concept.
A term that I hear often when discussing careers is "Your Mileage May Vary". I think it's a very applicable to initial SWO tours. In fact it applies equally to CIV life as much as MIL life. You will have good and bad bosses. Initial SWO sea tours are a process of learning the policies, procedures of the Navy and at the same time learning to fight and drive the ship. If you think about it for a minute, the curriculum is extremely broad in scope and challenging but somehow the majority do just fine.
OK I'll get back to the point- SWO's on ships have high visibility and are thus subject to higher levels of friendly fellow O jabbing. After months of this type of jabbing (which by the way I believe is totally acceptable and breaks up the monotony of being at sea) the perception among other warfare specialty types is that the SWO job sucks. Don't let the ones who say things like "SWO's Eat Their Young", "Friends Don't Let Friends go SWO" etc.. dissuade you from doing what YOU want to do in the Navy. The reality is that Navy Officers are generally a great buch of guys who WILL help you to succeed and WANT to have a good time while attempting to acheive that goal. Taken with a grain of salt -understand that the same "Tools" in CIV life also exist in the Navy, its just reality.
Your inital sea tour should be hard work during working hours and extremely fun while ashore/not working. of course your mileage will vary with the various DH/XO/CO factors.