Nice company for technical people / Full of obstacles for sales people - Anonymous employee General Atomics Employee Review

4.0
May 30, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Broad product line allows career shifts and learning Competitive pay at nice defense-industry rates Generous vacation/sick pay, full benefits, tuition reimbursement Private ownership by Blue brothers eliminates outside pressures and stock price manipulations Cool technologies - plasma, stealth coatings, Predator, rail guns Owner Neal Blue is amazing to understand and leverage so many diverse technologies San Diego!

Cons

Legal department's slowness and risk aversion has been strangling the company for past five years High level of conflict and office politics among departments in some GA entities Ridiculous number of approvals for routine sales (and 10 times worse for international) Family ownership results in inevitable nepotism Lack of training in organizational and people-management skills Sales and marketing are dirty words

Explore other reviews about General Atomics

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good work life balance

Cons

9 hour shifts 4 days a week

3.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mostly good people and skilled engineers that are easy to work with and great to learn from across all groups/locations. There is opportunity to pursue technical areas of interest and to stand out by leading improvement efforts. The company is flexible and often facilitates changes according to interest. Sense of job security generally feels good and stable, the greater GA really backs the Space division. The greater company works on some really interesting and cool things, beyond just defense. Pay is pretty good. Experience with most middle management (of engineers) has been positive, they typically advocate and support their employees.

Cons

Unsure of division leadership and strategic direction. Overall impression is that engineers' perspectives are not adequately weighted in both proposals and certain decisions for active missions. Processes burden performance, though there is intention for constant improvement. Ignoring engineering concerns (i.e. with schedule) + process burdens often result in delays and increased pressure, and therefore a less than ideal working environment at times. Overtime pay is not guaranteed but can be approved. Working with teams in different locations can lead to tension and "silo-ing" (though not always). Space division is becoming mostly defense focused (an industry trend), but would be nice to continue work in the civil earth and space science arena. They also demo'd a nice cafeteria/gathering space for more work/equipment space.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All