Job Description
Creating procedural documents that are used to test high value hardware. Deal with the logistics of getting test documents officially released through internal data management systems. Coordinate a work team to perform test procedures. Attend any meetings as necessary. Give presentations to the VP of the program if changes to officially released documentation is needed.
Pros
The Job Benefits. This job has a crazy amount of perks for the employees.
1) We are allowed to work a "Flex-time" work week, where we can work 9 hour days to get every other friday off, or work 10 hour days to get every friday off. We can skip a day of work for personal reasons and make it up on the weekend. Of course all of this is dependent upon whether or not your manager approves it. If you work for a "slave driver" you may never see any time off.
2) We also have a great health care package and retirement savings plan. The system is setup so that if you make a career out of working for this company, at the end of 30-40 years, you'll be pretty well off. (Of course I don't plan on staying hear that long.)
3) On campus there is a cafeteria, fitness center, and sports field. With the large amount of company employees, we are able to have intramural leagues of softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. I am the captian of my intramural soccer league. During the season, we play one game a week. It definitely helps to recharge the batteries after a long day in the office.
4) Paid Overtime. This is fortunate because many companies do not offer this. Any time worked on the weekends or during an off day (if you work a 4day schedule) is straight overtime. The catch is that if it is during the 5 day work week, you have to work the first 5 hours over 40 for free. Then you get paid for all the hours after that. You also have the option to save your worked overtime hours as "comp time" and then use it later on just like vacation time. So if you work a lot of weekend you can end up with much more vacation time than the standard 3 weeks that you get each year.
5) The people. For the most part, everyone I work with is cool. I do get hassle for being the "rookie", but the people I work with are actually decent people. They are people that I have created friendships with, that I enjoy working with, and many that I hang out with outside of work. If the people here weren't this cool, I think I may have been looking for a new job a long time ago.
Cons
1) During my time with this company, I have used about 25% of what I learned in college. While in college I learned the basics of putting satellites into space. Although there are jobs like that at this company, I do not have one of them. Sometimes I feel like my specialized skills are going to waste, as my most common tasks are writing technical documents instead designing structural components. The college skills I do use are speaking/presentation skills, technical writing, networking, and professionalism.
2) Although I was told that upon hiring into this company I would have the option to move around from job to job within the company, it hasn't turned out that way. While working hard for one work group, they become dependent upon me and are very reluctant to let me go. It is very hard to transition to new jobs within the company without letting disappointing my old team.
3) This is not the case for everyone, but my work group is required to work the late shift for a few months at a time throughout the year. We are also required to work many weekends. Needless to say the irregular work schedule definitely has a negative impact on my social life. I end up having to fight just to get some time off on the week ends which someone working a normal schedule would not have to do. The irregular work hours add a lot of stress to my life.
4) I am not sure how it is for new, young engineers in other companies or in other programs in my company, but I get a lot of "crap" for being the youngest in the group. Everyone is always hassling me about every little thing, not because it's important or because it matters or because they really care, but just because in their eyes, I am still the "rookie". I have been working here for 2.5 years now and I still get all kinds of hassling when I try to take a weekend off, or leave work on-time so that I can run some errands before stores/banks close. It's not always that bad, but sometimes it really gets on my nerves.
5) The moral battle I face with this job. The ultimate goal of the work I take part in at this job, in this defense industry, is to defend the country and it's people. That in itself is a worthy cause. However, the amount of money that the US government dumps into defense spending is sickening. I am not happy about being associated with all that money wasted on war instead of being spent on education or alternative energy research. I wish there was a better way to live, without war, without terrorist attacks, without pollution. As an idealist, I want to believe that this better world is possible, but while working in the defense industry, I can see that we are only perpetuating the current state of affairs.
Company Size
10,000 or greater employees
Pay Range
$60,001-$70,000
Years in Job
2
Education
BS in Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering
City
Sunnyvale
State
CA
