Low salaries for engineering staff - even contractors are poorly paid.
Odd culture - an awkward mix of Franco-German-British (ie. Marconi-esque for those that remember) management styles and culture.
Frustrating place to work - Every aspect of this business is process driven, inefficient and seems to take forever. Yes, you've guessed it, the gullible management have let the consultants in to sell them a series of overpriced 'projects' delivered by 'expert consultants' with little knowledge about how the business actually works. 'Lean' is the latest buzzword - great when you're making cheap mass-produced widgets/cars (eg. Toyota) but is it really applicable to essentially a low-volume bespoke product? The very processes that management use to improve efficiency are the very processes that hamper efficiency when real people try to implement them. Extremely frustrating. I found myself spending 25% of my time on paper chases, trying to get various bits of paper signed by managers and QA staff that knew very little about what they are actually signing. Inevitably when project timescales slip, the engineers and technicians then get blamed for not doing the job quickly enough!
Lack of career opportunity - little real career development. Yes, they love to bestow inflated job titles such as 'Higher Senior Engineer' to make people feel good about their plight, but in reality this just means a marginal increase in salary and no paid overtime as you try to climb higher. In the end, I left to work for one of Astrium's customers - 60% instant increase in pay and now with real scope to develop my career.
