Pros
The work environment is incredibly challenging not only from a technical standpoint but also from a business standpoint. The culture definitely requires a certain "type" of employee to be successful here. For the creative minds who get absorbed in their work this place is a dream job. Definitely grows you as not only an engineer but as a person in a very short time-I am very thankful for the amount of things I have learned here in a very short amount of time. There is a lot of room for creative thought, problem solving, independence, and technical career development. The perks are pretty convenient, there is no dress code, and the salaried employees are treated very well. Overall a great place for career development, incredible technical experience, and you are surrounded by the best minds on the planet. The company goals are large, the expectations are high, and you must be strong, independent, and know how to work on top of being a great engineer to be successful. I have also met a lot of friends and genuinely enjoy learning and being around my co workers each day.
Cons
-Management is constantly overwhelmed due to the level of changing company goals, this leaves less structure and stability improvement for each department which in the long run makes some groups highly inefficient. This has improved a lot however over the past year. -Rewards/spot bonus rewards are very sub par/under industry standard, and promotions seem to not make sense in certain departments (over promoted groups/excessive leads and lower level management present). Annual raises however are pretty decent overall. -Changes happen by the month/every year as opposed to every few years when it comes to leadership and department structure. This "can" be a good thing at times, however excessively it can cause backtracking and an uncomfortable culture. -Production, Engineering Development, & Reliability constantly battle it out it seems like in regards to priority. There is no clear path forward especially when problems arise. Again, making the overall environment highly inefficient, and this becomes annoying at times in the engineering community since there are much better ways to management these groups. A lot of the bad decisions made at the upper level, lack of leadership, lack of focus, and sub par corrective actions plans have resulted in a lot of engineers being over worked, getting burned out, and leaving. -Pay: overall salary is below average for this type of technical work. The other benefits sort of compensate for this like company incentive packages, however the higher salary at other companies still trumps it overall, and a lot of engineers leave due to the high cost of living in the area and the inability for raises to keep up. -More lead & management layers are being added causing more bureaucracy in the past year. -Hours can be lengthy (sometimes self induced, sometimes due to critical deadlines and lack of support and inefficiencies in management). Definitely something that needs to be self monitored however to prevent burn out.
