Yikes...Stay away! Accept an offer with their Powertrain/Engine group, only if you have no where else to go!
Pros
You have a job. Chicago being a big city, is a plus for those who prefer large cities. Good fallback during bad economy.
Cons
Salary does not cover the high in cost of living in Chicago. Navistar's engine/powertrain group is a substandard organization. Their program timings are off and the senior and middle management seem to be running around like a headless chitcken. Directors often get fired. If you love technology, honesty and hardwork, you will neither advance nor have job satisfaction here. The only way to progress is to say and do what your boss likes and shut your concience up. After a while this gets extremely frustrating. Bosses, especially the younger ones, feel easily threatended by the hardworking and talented engineers, so keep your head low and be ready to sacrifice work/life balance. Engine/Powertrain group often tries to save money in the short term and when things go wrong, they have to spend twice as much to rectify problems. Powertrain is in an utter state of chaos. It is highly understaffed and there are too many managers and project managers and design leads who keep pushing you to get work done. Younger managers need to be trained to appriciate good work. If you butter them up they certainly appreciate you. Every thing is outsourced; from drawings to analysis and you are told to yell at folks to get work done. If you do not have a job, work here till you find a better one.
