Blue Origin reviews

3.2

46% would recommend to a friend

(1,210 total reviews)

Dave Limp

35% approve of CEO

40% positive business outlook

Blue Origin has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 1,210 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Blue Origin employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aerospace & Defense industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
4.0
Jan 1, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

By far the the best thing about Blue are the fellow engineers. There are so many brilliant people to learn from and befriend. The chaos at Blue is an opportunity. Options include: -Change career paths and learn a new skill all while being paid! Learning is the main reason this is a 4-star review. -Identify a missing element in the company and create your own department. -Start a technical focus group. -Get funding to attend a conference or obtain special training in a skills useful to the company. -Propose a new product/invention that is useful to the mission and obtain funding to develop it. -Work 40 hours a week (if you want). -A good amount of free beer and social events. In short, if you look at the company progress as a whole you may be disappointed at Blue. If you are entrepreneurial there are many opportunities to learn and experiment here on the individual level. That, and all the lifelong friends I have made, are why I recommend it.

Cons

-The company is bad at getting things done and frankly is not a world class rocket builder (right now). Lots of risk aversion and bureaucracy. -A good cohort of 'diversity warriors' distracting from the mission. -Management seems to be more interested in designing some convoluted process they can put on their resume than actually getting things done. Management does not hold people accountable or motivate (by carrot or stick) action. -There are weird power structures and arrogance. A lot of management does not listen to 'common engineers' but will heartily agree if an 'anointed one' says that same thing. -Management is mostly 'professional managers' with MBAs from the right schools or from traditional aerospace. -Lots of annoying 'cover-my-ass' big company safety training and rules. -Enterprise software is a mess. 100 different systems none of which work well or talk to each other. -Annuals raises average 3%. If you get a promotion it may only be 5%.

2.0
May 8, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart people. Exciting mission. Cool facilities. Not everyday you get to see rockets at your work place. People are generally pleasant.

Cons

I was promised to be allowed to build up a new team with myself at the center - "we look to build a team around you." Only a few months in, my manager decided to hire someone else to become team manager, leaving my role uncertain. Although I respect this decision and understand that needs can change, this was completely different than what was promised, and not the reason I joined the company. I felt that my time at Blue Origin was the hardest that I've worked anywhere, because I believed in the mission and liked the company image. Our team made tremendous progress, and the company reached a significant milestone. Unfortunately, I don't think they've treated me fairly. So, be aware of this type of culture when deciding to join the company.

5.0
Jan 24, 2016

A fantastic opportunity

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Blue Origin is a unique aerospace company with stable funding and a distinct lack of bureaucracy. It is still small enough that everyone's efforts have a direct impact on the vehicles we build and fly. It's a great place to be an engineer. There is a high concentration of talented people, and the culture is friendly.

Cons

We're still developing our business processes and systems. There is schedule pressure and a heavy workload to meet the challenges set by our owner and senior management. But, better that than boredom!

Viewing 124 - 126 of 1,210 Reviews

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