Company is very fragmented. Upper management has no idea what goes on at ground level.
Pros
You get to do a lot of "off the wall" testing for large companies. It's a great learning opportunity. You get to see what everyone does wrong and what everyone does right. You are better prepared for troubleshooting as an engineer after working here. You will have a great chance to "get in" with a company that you want to work with after meeting their engineering managers.
Cons
Company is on a trend of trying to grow while cutting costs. Our company was purchased by Element and middle managers were not changed. This resulted in a larger disconnect of what happens here vs what upper managers see. We still have a tiny company spending mindset while trying to be a larger company that does more work and more technical work. Some equipment is over 20 years old and should have been replaced 10 years ago. With the current rules of capital budgeting and purchase of new equipment, our location is destined to lose capabilities until it is unprofitable. Due to equipment failures this year , we are not able to meet revenue goals and missed out on all but the first quarter bonus. We also lost our most experienced and valuable expert employees due to disputes with middle managers about overwork and underpayment. It is common for some salaried employees to be forced to work 50-60 hours every week and to come in on holidays. Healthcare costs have doubled over the last two years due to reduced company contribution. Pay raises are constrained between 1% and 3% per year and depend on greatly exceeding expectations. I don't think it is possible to exceed expectations as everyone complains that you can never work hard enough to achieve this. Our location has no Christmas party other than a "Dirty Santa" in the lunch room and a mere $200 Christmas bonus for every employee regardless of position. Typically a Christmas bonus with other companies is equivalent to 80 hours of base pay with extra for excessive profit. I'm embarrassed to give tours of our lab due to the disrepair and antiquity of our lab and equipment. I'm extremely tired of the "buy the cheapest option" mentality.
