Some interesting opportunities for young engineers, but those with families should look elsewhere
Pros
- Small company with a few innovative projects. There's real potential for growth (based on which project you're assigned) if you're open to learning new things. - SOLUTE's a pretty small development shop, so there's nowhere to hide if your skills aren't up to snuff. Poor engineers are shown the door fairly quickly, so in general you can count on the competency of those who stay. - The CTO is one of the most brilliant people I've ever worked with.
Cons
- Lack of basic respect for employees, manifesting in various different ways. Point of example: I started a family during my time at SOLUTE and took 3 days off before coming back to work. Since I didn't have enough PTO to cover it, management docked my pay rather than allowing me to accrue it back over time. You read correctly, SOLUTE actually docked my pay after taking 3 days off for paternity leave. I found another job immediately. - Starting pay is decent and occasionally there are small bonuses for good performance. But the benefits are quite poor, especially for those with families. - Much of your work will involve SPAWAR in some capacity. If you haven't worked with SPAWAR in the past, it's the quintessential example of government waste and apathy. It follows the 80/20 rule: 20% of the people are excellent and produce 80% of the work, the rest seem to be counting down the days to retirement. I've never worked with more engineers that were flat out incompetent than during my time at SPAWAR, avoid being sucked into that black hole at all costs. - Constant turnover means constant recruitment and interviews. Expect this to be a significant time sink. - Management seems to take employee departures very personally; expect to be maligned and thrown under the bus on your way out the door. This happened to everyone who left during my time there without fail. I put in my two weeks notice as a matter of professional courtesy, in hindsight it was completely unnecessary.
