The worst engineering firm I have ever worked for
Pros
I cannot think of one good thing to say other than there are some great people in lower level positions but everyone here eventually quits because of the poor management and total lack of leadership.
Cons
Where to start? I have never left a review for a former employer before but my experience at Collins was so abysmal that I feel the need to share. First of all, almost everything I was told in my interview was false. I didn't know this at the time of course but Collins is so desperate that they will literally tell you whatever they think you want to hear. I was told in my interview that the land development group had Civil 3D standards/templates. They most certainly do not. Anyone doing design work in the land development/civil site sector these days knows how important it is to utilize Civil 3D effectively and I never would have taken a job with Collins had they actually been honest with me in the interview about the state of their CAD standards (or lack thereof). Not only do they not have standards, no one in management has any grasp on how to use the program. This might be stating the obvious but this in turn leads to other issues: for example, how does management hire good CAD people when they don't know the first thing about how to use it properly or the right questions to ask? I was told in my interview that I would have the opportunity to start managing projects and mentor younger engineers but what I didn't know was how bad the turnover rate would be and shortly after I started, there were no young engineers left in the office to mentor. During my time in this office (about 8 months), about half the people in the office quit. I was told there would be learning opportunities and there were absolutely none. There wasn't a single person in the office that could teach me anything. And even though Collins claims they will do tuition reimbursement, that is another farce. I spent a great deal of time and energy choosing a certificate program that I hoped would further my career as well as help the office capture more work but after all that, they refused to pay for it. Most companies I've worked at do some sort of employee appreciation from time to time and a few of the places I worked would give you an entire day off to do a fun activity and not only cover all the expenses for the activity but they would also pay you for the whole day. This will definitely not happen at Collins. They will pressure you to go to a lame 1-2 hour event that you don't even want to go to, call it "employee appreciation" and then tell you to make up the hours. This is by far the least fun place I have ever worked. Timesheets are always a joy to fill out here because EVERY project is over-budget (management underbids on every job because they know this is the only way they can get the work). So when it comes to filling out your timesheet, you'll always be charging ahead to some project that you haven't even started working on yet. Then of course that project will be over budget eventually and the cycle will continue. I think the only way the design group even survives is because inspections is just profitable enough to cover for the losses of the design group. I could go on but I think you get the picture. I have since learned that people who were in my position before me quit for the same reasons so I think it's safe to say nothing in this office is going to change. In summary, whether you are a developer or a job-seeker, do yourself a favor and stay far far away from this company.
