One-trick Pony - Senior Software Developer General Atomics Employee Review

2.0
Oct 20, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This company came up with and still makes predator drones, which does raise its cool factor. Also, I'm pretty sure it's the same General Atomics in Fallout 4. So, I guess some people get a kick out of being around military stuff, without actually risking their lives. Too bad that drone is becoming their one-and-only trick. Their pay is low but they do have pretty good work-life balance and they offer a pension plan. This attracts a lot of semi-retired engineers. If you are a junior engineer, this is a good start, but I would turn and burn ASAP; the old tech will hold you back. They will get you a national security clearance if that floats your boat.

Cons

* If you like cube farms and traveling to the desert and other wastelands, then apply. * Their tech is 20 years old; they still use manual testers and dev ops is a human process; i.e. there is no such thing CI/CD here. I want to say that the majority of their engineers are semi-retired and don't even know what AWS is. * Their methodology is nowhere near Agile. Their software has a ton of technical debt. They put performance and quality last. * Their project managers walk around like they're rock stars. They always complain about the quality of the software but never want to fund regression or performance testing. * There's a lot of UCSD influence here; i.e. they get a kick out of C++ and look down on web technologies and other "script kiddies". Modern UI frameworks like React or Angular are almost unheard of here.

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.

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