- salary is low if you would factor in the cost of living in the area. Northern VA is one of the most expensive in the US. $140,000/yr wont get you even a townhouse, which starts at $400,000. HOA's are another $250/mo. Of course there are cheaper options but pretty much you wont like it (1950's old brick houses in unsafe neighborhoods).
- management will tell everything to motivate you but deliver way short after you did your part of the bargain. they say do this and that and we'll get you promoted ... after exceeding the requirements and after a few months later you are still engineer 1. Boss will say that you are 'almost there' except for 1-2 things you need to improve on ... then you get a fresh to do list and the cycle continues. There's an unwritten expectation of working 55 hours or so minimum if you want to be 'good in their eyes'.
- promotion is not based on your performance alone. it is also based on how well you get the senior managers to like you. salesmanship and impression management will get you further than tangible accomplishment. quiet type engineers are at a disadvantage.
- work-life balance does not exist unless you work on 3-4 day shift. it is pretty common for non-shift people to work 55-60 hours a week. If you have a meeting at 7-8pm, you still need to show up at 7:45 am the following day. You are required to be contactable even in the middle of the night, and you are expected to work at home thru remote PC connection - and this is not counted as 'work hours'.
-yearly evaluations are based on how good you are compared to your peers ... you will be ranked against others. this made not a few people become selfish of how they do their work so as to be ranked better than others. if you are new, good luck figuring the ropes out.
- cyclical layoffs. I survived 3-4 layoffs so far and this means more work for the remaining workforce. Everybody is overworked, resulting in consistent attrition of workers. Most of who stayed are either foreign workers waiting for their permanent residency, older 50+ workers, or rank and file operators and technicians.
- most first level managers are chinese or indian so chances are youll have an asian boss (again due to permanent residency issue, they have no choice but to stay). this would translate into a more asian style 'sweatshop' approach to management than the more liberal 'consensus based' american style we love. favoritism also play well at times in getting hot jobs i.e. expat assignments.
- cafeteria food is terrible, not to mention the cubes are 1980's style light blue cloth with light brown steel frame and light gray cabinets. computers are slow but they change it every 6 years. i went to some offsite training before and i was handed over an old heavy laptop and corded mouse for use. i volunteered to use mine instead and just accessed my work PC remotely.
- Parking is insufficient. Need to come early to secure a good spot.
- No gym.
Bottomline: workers are not well taken cared of based on their treatment and their general workplace. A lot have already left and moved on.
