Caterpillar Data Science Program Manager reviews

The areas that CAT operates in are horrible, Peoria Illinois is a dumpster fire, Griffin Georgia is another. List goes on and on. They are all one horse towns that do not have competitors so Caterpillar can lock you down without fear of losing you. It's a cyclic business, you will either be forced out of a job you like towards a job you don't when it comes time to shuffle people around. They don't see the big picture, shutting down research was an incredibly bone headed move that is going to back sting them in years to come. Also downsizing and trying to attract new talent is a problem, people talk and it's hard to convince new college grads to give them a try when the only things people hear about them are bad. Caterpillar will not offer you chances to improve yourself, what you hire in for is what they expect out of you, no career growth. Don't worry about going back for a part time degree, you won't need it at CAT. I watched many people leave to pursue academic pursuits because their boss didn't have their back. In times of crisis (Union strike), engineers, accountants etc (desk jobs) get pulled into the factory so Caterpillar continues to meet quota while they bully the unions. If you had hope of being a software developer, don't be surprised to find out you get to learn how to weld as well!

Heavy bureaucracy. Structure of the upper leadership of the company is very bloated and superfluous. It was impossible to keep track of who all of the supervisors were. It was not entirely clear what half of them even did. They were just "chief directing supervisor of supervising the undersecretary to the assistant manager of analytics." EVERYTHING had an acronym, and the acronyms changed every month. Main hub of the company seems to be a swiftly tilting ship. Absolutely no stability. I think I worked for three different divisions in the course of three or so months. "Diversity" was valued over competence. I come from a pretty diverse family (father born in Polynesia, have black, Japanese, Filipino, Cherokee relatives). I have lived in a number of places in the US and Asia. I would consider myself somewhat liberal in social matters. But I still expect higher leadership to actually know what is going on, not just be a good face to look at. I'm not sure I saw that here. Very little motivation to work for the cause of the company as a whole. You have a 50-50 chance of being laid off no matter what happens, so it's not like the employees actually feel Caterpillar has their back. Pay is not amazing. It's okay. You will not be poor. But you will have to value location over paycheck. I know of a good number of people who leave Caterpillar just because the pay does not overcome the deep bureaucracy and tumultuous position of the company. When I can walk away and earn $25k more in a similar real estate market, it takes a lot of loyalty to a group of nameless CEO/Vice Presidents in order for me to stay. Highly educated people in the tech industry rarely are that desperate for a job.