Ambitious people need not apply* - Anonymous employee McMaster-Carr Employee Review

3.0
Dec 15, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

*This is the tale of two companies: if you're in the management development program and make it past the first few years, you're golden. If you're anyone else, you will probably be very unhappy in the long run. Great benefits package. The culture is SLOWLY evolving into a slightly more modern workplace - sometimes they even promote women to supervisory roles!

Cons

This is a dinosaur of a company with everything that comes with that: slow to adapt, antiquated and misogynistic culture, secrecy over transparency, etc. No one is interested in your career goals - they won't even bother to ask.

Explore other reviews about McMaster-Carr

4.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Pay/benefits are incredibly generous - People are generally easy/nice to work with - Note that the Systems department seems to be fairly isolated from the negative issues discussed in other reviews (e.g. tension between warehouse workers and management) - I haven't experienced any of those issues within the systems department. In my opinion, Systems is a great place to work and develop as an engineer. - Hybrid work style (3 days in office). Personally, I like hybrid more than both fully in-office and fully remote styles. - Great cafeteria with good food and cheap prices. - Good work/life balance (outside of being on call, I can leave work at work).

Cons

- Work is not super interesting to me. I come from a highly technical, but very different (not ecommerce/industrial supplies), background where I was doing work I was much more interested in. No doubt there are folks in Systems who love the domain though. - While I'm not on call a ton (1-2 weeks every few months), I really hate being on call. I like to leave work at work. Note that joining at least one reliability team is expected within your first year or so.

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