Pros
Career Development: There are many in house training opportunities such as; safety training, black and green belt six sigma training, maintenance, and online training above several specific topics (ranging from pumps, process controls, and how things work). They will pay tuition if you continue your education. Operators: Smart, knowledgeable and willing to help you with projects. There is extensive training for operators before they are qualified. I have been impressed with the knowledge and lock-outs.
Cons
Pay: The pay at WR is standard. It may be a little higher at first glance. However, the pay would be decent if you had a standard 40-45 hour work week. The expectation is to work 10 hours a day. They can’t say this, but if you work less than you will be devalued in your yearly review and told you aren’t helping the team. If there are 10 people working on troubleshooting, and you are about to walk out the door you are either faced with 1) stay and work 16 hours and be back in 8 hours, or 2) be devalued because you didn’t stay to help. Management isn’t even concerned about having tired management. Whatever pay is offered, take off 30% of your hourly earnings because an 8 hour day is not possible. Work-Life Balance: Not recommended if you have a family, friends or any sort of social life. They are workaholics here. It’s expected that you are on call at all times. It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked 16 hours, you are expected to answer calls and come in 8 hours later. Working more than 16 hours is nothing to be proud about and the way people in management brag about working 22 hours is saying “be there or you are not helping the team.” I started with a group of 5 other engineers and those 5 left before me after 2.5 years. Career Development: There are many benefits in the pros. Just know that interns get the same trainings offered to you. They'll get things such as team building trips to the theme park and get paid for it. The sad part is that they'll get overtime for doing practically nothing. Communication: I hope you like being talked down to and be treated like you don’t know anything in your area of expertise. Lots of people here can never be wrong. Micro-Management: Not everyone in management is a micro-manager but this comes from the top. This company doesn’t care how much experience you have. They will monitor projects at every step and correct your mistakes. However, if you go by the correction and it doesn't answer the issue several months down the road, the blame will be placed on you. Upper management here does not think they micromanage but they do. They constantly question you for every decision you make. Be ready to know how to answer the 20 questions. Just know that you are not being devalued (at least not yet), it's just the expectation of management to micromanage and answer the 20 questions coming from above. Decision-making from long term employees: They do not value data that comes off the DCS that you collect. You will need to stand your ground if the data is telling you to do one thing and everyone is telling you "but we've been doing this for 20 years"