Started Great, Ended Abusively
Pros
-good pay (for aerospace). This was the first time my salary was even in the realm of my tech friends (minus that I didn’t get bonuses). -A lot of good people to work with. There will be a lot of questionable team members, but I made the most friends at a job at Blue Origin than anywhere else I worked. -less so now, but I previously was given a big scope to execute and the freedom to really try out new ideas. Resulted in some great successes that look great on a resume
Cons
-Abusive management is an understatement. I had a decent manager for almost 2 years, got reorged to a series of two manager, one awful and one mediocre. Many abusive leaders can survive at Blue due to their constant blaming and abuse of those below them. If you keep PIP’ing at least one person on your team, it seems to avert prying eyes. -Your role expectations can be changed on you, even if you have a long history of success at the company. It took one re org for my career at Blue to get set back — I had years of great reviews and then suddenly “wasn’t needed in that capacity” and held to new requirements for my job that in no way aligned with what I was hired for originally. That, paired with bad actors who use the cut throat system to get away with abuse, makes for a bad work environment. Multiple friends of mine had similar experiences of abuse before me, and eventually, I was the next unlucky one. -On that note, your Blue experience is so excessively subject to chance that it’s almost laughable. It’s hard to find the things you hear credible when the story gets flipped so quickly. It’s a deep seated lack of accountability on part of the organization and a culture that rewards continual lack of accountability on part of leadership. Demand something unrealistic, then shame anyone who can’t meet it. -Given the cutthroat nature, management tends to isolate their preferred people by shelling on some other victim. It all ties to the mandatory performance cuts required each years. However, eventually, they run out of easy targets and start down-selecting among the better performers. Effectively, not even going above and beyond can protect you, they’ll just move the goal post when it’s been determined you’re the next one on the hit list. Ultimately, Blue in 2025 deserves a single star at best, but Blue from 2023-2024 was a good 3 to 4 stars. At Blue especially, make sure you choose a manager, the role will be more secondary.