Draper reviews

4.1

90% would recommend to a friend

(386 total reviews)
avatar

Jerry Wohletz

94% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Draper has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 386 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Draper employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aerospace & Defense industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

386 reviews
1.0
Feb 14, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

--2-to-1 401k matching is pretty unheard of --Unlimited sick time --Ability to accrue comp time to use at a later date --I loved the location. There are plenty of places nearby to grab a bite to eat or get a cup of coffee. And it's close to public transit.

Cons

--People coast by while doing virtually no work. Working at Draper feels like being in a "study hall" sometimes. The pay is great, but the work is completely unfulfilling. --Far too much organizational inertia. Draper spends a ton of money creating advertisements that imply that they are on the bleeding edge of technology, but in reality they are afraid of change. --Draper puts a cap on the number of employees at each level, so you have to wait your turn even if you're out-performing your peers. There are people who have been doing great work and have been there for 10+ years that are still at the level where they were hired in at. It's very hard to get a promotion. --Draper does not provide real resources to do research. They used to have an on-site library where you could order books and research papers, but they got rid of that to save money. --The culture is terrible. People get by on "security through obscurity," and upper management can't see through it.

2.0
Feb 1, 2019

Old Fashion Culture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits and the new atrium

Cons

Outdated environment and reluctant to change

4.0
Jan 30, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This was a wonderful first job straight out of a PhD program. You can work on multiple projects (varying in interesting-ness), tons of research needed for projects & proposals & the IRAD programs. Great exposure to new tech. Some wonderful and brilliant colleagues. Attempts to modernize office space & procedures. Attempts to gather information on employee needs. Upper management is relatively accessible. Work-life balance & 403b is great. I learned a lot.

Cons

Depending on your area of expertise, you may end up in a department that is new or lacking in a lot of steady work coming in, leading to a lot of "dry spells" where competition for good work gets a little heated and political. It doesn't feel good. I am ambitious and hard working, and I often felt very replaceable, under valued, and discouraged to seek leadership positions because of my place in "line" waiting for them. Or I was so overwhelmed with too many projects that my days were literally wall-to-wall meetings. Work is very network-based which actually wasn't much of a problem to find work...until it was. People (including me) hoard good projects because it always feels like the rug may be pulled out on funding or staffing levels. People keep secrets on available work or who they'd like to do what. Staffing procedures were still a bit in flux when I left. Lots of reorgs, desk changes due to construction, lots of old guard vs. new stuff that I was very glad to leave behind. People that excel here seem to either be VERY complacent or very "in" with management. Also diversity and inclusion efforts to change culture were lacking (although hopefully have grown by now).

Viewing 253 - 255 of 386 Reviews

Glassdoor has 517 Draper reviews submitted anonymously by Draper employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Draper is right for you.