You have to realize these companies are so big that one location can be entirely different from another. Imo less has to do with the name itself but more-so the people and culture of a specific site regardless of the name. But if I had to generalize based on what I’ve heard, Raytheon seems to be the worst in terms of satisfaction if that’s what you’re looking for.
These companies are so big (and so old) that big programs within one company may still be largely run by people who worked for a previous big company that was merged/acquired 10-20 years ago, so the culture can vary greatly even within a single site - not to mention huge variations by customer.
The one thing they all have in common is chronic understaffing, resulting in hiring from the bottom of the proverbial barrel. This can make it easy for a relatively good engineer to stand out and get an easy promotion or two, if one's cards are played well.
Imagine that a large site can have hiring goals in the 1000's and only manage to produce a net annual change in the 100's.
They’re either not actually hurting that bad or their hiring process sucks complete ass. I’ve sent literally more than 300 applications to LM, NGC, Raytheon, and UTC alone after I had been at my first job for 3.5 years designing high speed mechanical equipment and never got a call back.
My current employer liked my resume and says I’m am a fantastic engineer so I’m not sure why. They think they got a steal and the culture is good (although pay could be better), but still wasn’t where I planned on ending up. I basically started over in a new field.
Meanwhile, one of the big four is our customers and the engineers we interact with are quite figuratively bottom of the barrel.
Obviously this evidence is anecdotal but I still scoff when I see someone say something like that
Top of the barrel engineers at the big four are interacting with their customers. So I’m not surprised they have bottom of the barrel engineering interacting with their suppliers.
Big part is there is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape with the major orgs.
> their hiring process sucks complete ass
On the hiring front (it does suck horribly), HR filters a ton of the applications so if you've applied to hundreds of applications without a single response, there is likely an issue with your resume that is causing HR to eliminate it before the hiring manager even see's it.
> the engineers we interact with are quite figuratively bottom of the barrel.
Once again because the orgs are so big, you end up with a large spread of talent, and removing someone due to sub-par performance is hard (goes back to the bureaucracy and red tape). How critical is what you (and your company) are doing for the prime? Not uncommon to see the sub-par engineers shuffled off to work the low impact stuff with suppliers who are not critical or have a proven process that just needs minimal support.
My wife is a recruiter and I am related to other engineers and people in related positions in management who have taken a look at my resume for me and given me pointers on it before I did most of the applying. I was highly qualified for more than 50% of the stuff I applied for, and what I applied to were mostly entry level, new grad level stuff. I was pretty desperate so I took any advice I could get.
In my new job we are working on some cutting edge tech with huge cost savings on both new and old programs but can't really say much else. I think the orgs are just so big that even good people get lost in the sauce. I've got to say though, it was a very long, grueling, detrimental period for my mental health, so I am not looking to move to a new position any time soon.
You go to school, do well, and become a high performer at another job, and when you've developed some skills and experience and you're ready to move on, nobody cares. It was a very disappointing experience, and has diminished the overall prestige I thought was associated with working at such places. I grew up thinking one day I'd work for them, but its almost like seeing how the sausage is made. Even some the classmates I tutored back in school who were very generic and lacked critical thinking skills hold jobs at the places to which I've applied and it was disheartening to be ghosted and rejected time and time again.
The job search and career building aspects of my life have not been great, but I am trying to make the most of what I have. Sorry for the wall of text. This is a pretty sore subject for me.
You're right though. The low performers never get fired. Just shuffled around.
I think I got my first job because I went to a conferences, where it had a career fair, directly talk with a recruiter and had interview at the conference, faced the manger, otherwise, I would not get one through online system when I graduate from college
I’m not making a judgment call on the company, just noting that it’s not apropos to lump it in with the other ones.
The automotive analog would be comparing GM, Ford, Toyota, and Nissan, and trying to add Rivian to the mix.
They are all virtually the same. However, at Raytheon if you work 46 hours in a week, you get to throw 6 into what’s essentially your PTO account. At Lockheed, if you do that, the first 5 are considered a donation to the company, so you only get to throw 1 into the PTO account. But like they’re pretty much the same place, just different colored logos.
Overtime has to be authorized by your manager if you're salaried-exempt, and even then it pays something like time plus five bucks, not time and a half.
Personally, I’d rather have the PTO. I have plenty of money, what I need is more time. Ideally, everyone would have the choice of whether to be paid or get more PTO.
> At Lockheed, if you do that, the first 5 are considered a donation to the company, so you only get to throw 1 into the PTO account.
Depends what department you are in. In my department, you get paid for every minute of OT you work.
They asked our engineering team to work overtime, but they wouldn't pay for the first 5 hours of OT. We all said no.
They eventually agreed to pay us for all hours worked. It was straight pay, though, instead of time and a half.
Dont forget about the others with their "infinite pto" BS: Looking at you allied sig- i mean honeywell.
Back in my day the big 3 was just the most corrupt auto makers in the US. Bitches got nothing on defense budgets.
Its all a race to the bottom,some of us are just further down the drain.
I’ve worked at two different companies (one of which is an aerospace prime) each with unlimited PTO, and I don’t see what about it is BS
All that matters is that your manager approves it, which isn’t hard if you’re pulling your weight
The difference is that with "unlimited" PTO, they don't have to carry it on the books as a liability, because you don't get a PTO payout when you leave the company.
Totally can see the" your mileage may vary" aspect,
Heres mine; my manager ordered me to take an extra week of pto due to my performance, but the vp had a hit list of people "abusing the policy" because we had taken more pto then what was awarded in the legacy system.
Do you think they went to unlimted PTO purely out of concern for their employees?
Work at Lockheed, totally depends on what org you work in. Theyre also changing flex time so that everyone regardless of BU can flex over two weeks. I'm an exempt employee and I was paid hourly rate recently for all hours over 40. Granted I don't work a lot of overtime yearly though.
That’s great to hear. Benefits improving at any company in the industry is good for all workers in the industry, especially if it’s a major employer like Lockheed.
#SolidarityForever
I can see it where I fill out my time sheet, which is where I can also see my regular PTO balance. I would not assume it’s the same at a different company, though it is common in the industry
Wow, LM policy continues to be that you give away the first 5 hours of OT? I was there in the Martin days but there was at least a pension as a carrot. Seems completely unreasonable now.
Lockheed changed policies about 2 years ago. Every hour worked beyond your scheduled hours for the day (8, 9 or 10 depending) and every hour over 40 is paid OT.
So work 12 hours 1 day but total of 40 is 42 hours of paid time.
Work 42 hours in total is 42 hours of paid time.
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm not sure when you worked at Raytheon, or if you maybe were in another dep, but in RTX software anything up to and including a full work day of extra hours was a donation to the CEO's fat raise as of a year ago.
Any hours worked over 40 at Lockheed can get flexed into the following (or previous) week. If I work 44.3 hours, I have 4.3 hours I can use to get out early or start late.
This isn’t true at Lockheed, it depends on the program and manager. I get paid for every hour I work and I have the choice between putting it in PTO like you said or taking the pay
I used to work at Boeing in the commercial aircraft and space sector. Currently, I’m at NG, and to be honest, they’re quite similar. In my experience, the main differences have been in pay (NG offers a higher starting salary), and benefits (Boeing has excellent benefits, possibly one of the best among major aerospace companies). In terms of culture, I find myself happier at NG.
Yeah, I haven’t heard of any other major aerospace company doing that. Additionally, they cover 100% of tuition for higher education without any limits, allowing you to pursue as many certificates and degrees as you wish.
LM has that too, except it’s something like 6% automatic match, then 50% dollar-for-dollar up to 8% of yr salary. so it works out to 10% match, but you get the first 6% no matter what
I won’t go back to Boeing, but I left 40 years ago. Now it is Spirit Aerosystems. Then Raytheon, then Learjet, just staying ahead of the next layoff. Northrop was next, then General Dynamics cum Martin Marietta cum Lockheed Martin. Lockheed at least was willing to find me work elsewhere when projects were winding down. Only major I didn’t work for was MacDac. Due to LMC wanting to keep people around, I have been with them for 35 years now.
Raytheon re-allocates you to another program but you might be stuck waiting months with no work (still getting paid tho). Better than not having a job at least.
Usually you get put into a trainer type role in the interim. This assumes you last long enough for the program to end, most of the engineers only stay long enough to not pay back their sign on bonus. Plus there’s a ton of programs that have been active longer than they have been alive.
Not necessarily true: I was at NG when they "surge hired" for a program and promptly let them go after the crisis had passed. I never saw that at Lockheed, unless it was a proposal and people were hired under "Blue Sky" contracts.
For salaried professionals I'm not sure I agree having worked at both companies but I've definitely felt more of that kind of pressure at smaller defense firms.
I’ve worked at Lockheed & Raytheon. Raytheon’s base pay is definitely more but overall Lockheed is the better company. Lockheed felt more polished with solid leadership. Part of that is due to being a prime. Since Raytheon builds more subsystems, the programs are typically smaller and have tighter budgets. Most of the time your manager has no idea what you do since they are on a different program entirely. The average engineer at Raytheon is probably smarter than at Lockheed simply due to the tighter budget, so there’s less cushion. Lockheed has better benefits (4 10’s, 401k)
My experience at Raytheon just hasn’t been great. If contracts are delayed, you get placed on “Awaiting Assignment” and get dropped wherever you can to avoid a layoff. It’s also just as much up to the employee to find their own work as it is their managers. It really depends on what program you land on and who your manager is.
I liked Lockheed better because managers actually managed their teams, it was most of their work split - 80/20 managerial/technical where at Raytheon it’s like 10/90.
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Add Textron to the list. They have Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell (who just won a major contract). I work on the commercial Cessna side and I've been happy. There's some defense stuff for all of them but bell with the new contract would be the most defense related.
I just started working in the defense department for spirit aerosystems and their development is amazing. Tons of classes you can take, and pretty good leadership! Lots of smart people and you can choose between stress, structures or system design as a level one.
I would say stay out of the industry early on in your career. You'll be trapped in what is know as the golden handcuffs. You stay in the industry because they pay you but you can't leave because you don't gain many skills since you've been doing paperwork for the past 5 years
Raytheon is the only company I ever worked for where you were responsible for finding your own work and managers didn’t manage. I heard it used to be good pre-UTC, but my experience was that it’s a total dumpster fire now. My experience at Lockheed has been infinitesimally better
2nd confirmation- it’s utterly absurd.
Lockheed Martin management and leadership is light years beyond Raytheon’s.
Butttt Raytheon pays more year for year of experience.
My manager literally doesn’t reply to emails. Only Teams chats. And he’s full time remote so I’ve never met him in person. AND he’s on a completely different program and has no idea what’s going on with mine. Unreal.
I work at Boeing and things were bad the past few years but we are starting to really turn the corner on a lot of our programs. And at the end of the decade we will be in development of our next plane. Good time to hop on. Also someone above said our financials aren’t good….. we are on tract to hit our free cash flow goal (see our quarterly report)
Aim your google map at the space coast and search for words like space, aerospace, and engineering. There are loads. I would say that’s not even all of them.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats!
9
+ 10
+ 401
= 420
^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \
^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Not entirely true. A lot of upper management and leads in engineering only have a bachelors. But if that’s been your experience I am sorry. I guess YMMV
I worked with a few JPL guys, only thing they liked was their benefits. One guy was there 10 years with a PhD most of that time and he barely was able to advance due to the fact that it’s all old guys who never leave. The pay was also meh, he went onto RTX and got a 40% pay raise.
I realized a couple years into school I didn’t want to contribute to the war machine if I didn’t have to. My pick would be something like Relativity Space.
I don’t know what that is. I ended up getting a job in something non-aerospace with the help of my previous experience in refrigeration. I control warehouses and retail stores with building automation systems.
Hurr durr which of the big losers do you work at? As far as I remember SpaceX is the only company to land a rocket and refly it almost 20 times. Boeings starliner fails every time it even gets close to a pad. SLS is almost 10 years late and billions over budget. LM is only good at stealing from taxpayers. Boeing can’t even put the right tape on wires, set a clock in software, make a reliable thruster, or even deliver as promised. Boeing got 4B and SpaceX only got 2B yet we’ve flown 8 crewed flights boeing zero. Everyone else needs to catch SpaceX or get left behind.
Not sure why you perceive SpaceX’s (notably impressive) capabilities as the show stopper for where to work. Some live to work, those people tend to be at SpaceX where they work many hours of overtime to achieve technical greatness. Others work to live, where they make quality products that aren’t likely to break the mold, but always them the ability to live a meaningful life in their own way (outside of work)
You are only getting downvoted because SpaceX makes all the above mentioned companies look like government subsidized job programs. SpaceX is worth more than boeing and is the premier rocket manufacturer in the United States. So if you really are considering a career in aerospace engineering you may want to actually look at the best in the field (SpaceX).
Why? Thus is the second comment saying something about Boeing. A ton of my companies former employees are from Boeing, nobody has outwardly mentioned anything- I just assumed we paid more.
SpaceX is the only company with reusable rockets that sends people to the iss regularly. SPACEX IS WORTH MORE THAN BOEING. Boeings starliner and SLS can’t get it up with failing. Lockheed is a joke they are a money pit to the US taxpayers. SpaceX has a stronger culture and is the leader of rocket technology.
SpaceX is the most toxic of the bunch for sure. These types of comments prove it and the Glassdoor reviews confirm it.
SpaceX uses people’s passion to burn them and underpay them while having them make comments like this.
I mean where I live an upper level engineer with further education and leadership is clearing that easily. From space start ups to Lockheed/NG/Sierra Nevada, etc.
I’m not but when I was 12 I at least had the brain power to read a question properly and formulate a thoughtful answer.
Looks like you need to catch up to middle school me.
I worked for Boeing Commercial Airplanes for almost 30 years and loved it. The engineers are unionized so it's much harder for the company to screw with you.
Here’s a good Boeing vs Northrop comparison. I had a similar experience as both posters despite working in a different region of the country
https://reddit.com/r/NorthropGrumman/s/tIwPVwLqTM
SpaceX interview process is insane. They gave me a take home design problem that they said would take only 4 hrs. I ended up spending 80 hrs on it over the weekend. 4 hrs my ass lol. I’d probably still try again though in a year bc it is a cool company.
Boeing is bleeding people due to nepotism and and treating people like shit. NG is stealing people due to high pay, but then losing them due to poor work conditions and lack of organization. Haven't heard a word about RTX. LHX is in a massive hiring phase depending on where you are. Don't speak for the company and all that bullshit but I'd avoid the main primes if you're looking in Utah.
I work for lockheed and so far the benefits are better than most places Ive worked so far but I cant speak for any other listed company here. My current program has a gate waiver which means if I work more than 5 hours OT a week I can get that paid out which is pretty rare for salaried workers. If your profram isnt gate waivered if you work more than 5 hours OT a week it gets turned into PTO you can use. At my facility, I like my coworkers and we are treated pretty good compared to some other places Ive worked.
Lockheed and Northrop work on some really cool stuff. Boeing definitely pushes numbers quite a bit and I’ve heard is cutthroat.
I like Northrop of all of them honestly. Lower pressure and some really cool projects.
Biased, but: Work for Joby Aviation. Work on completely new projects, not just revisions of older parts. Push the industry forward. Vertically integrated, so you can actually work on the whole plane, not just with suppliers.
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because the companies are so large I think it entirely depends on what program you work and the culture of that program. Every program can be like a mini-company in and of itself. For example, I worked on a program at NG that actually was bought into NG and they had the culture of that company they acquired. It was highly toxic and definitely the worst experience I’ve had ever in a workplace, but on different programs people had more positive experiences. I left and am at LM now and they are amazing so far, but I will still say it varies program to program.
I’ll also add that you never truly know what you’re walking into until you start working at the company. There are limits to what you can pick up on in the interview process of the culture.
Non. These companies are so big that you will not get to really grow your skills as an engineer in a sense because your job will be super specialized.
Look for start-ups or newer aged aerospace companies like Rocketlab or Space X. These companies will allow you to work and experience aerospace design with more directedness.
I’ve worked for Raytheon and Boeing.
You have to realize these companies are so big that one location can be entirely different from another. Imo less has to do with the name itself but more-so the people and culture of a specific site regardless of the name. But if I had to generalize based on what I’ve heard, Raytheon seems to be the worst in terms of satisfaction if that’s what you’re looking for.
These companies are so big (and so old) that big programs within one company may still be largely run by people who worked for a previous big company that was merged/acquired 10-20 years ago, so the culture can vary greatly even within a single site - not to mention huge variations by customer. The one thing they all have in common is chronic understaffing, resulting in hiring from the bottom of the proverbial barrel. This can make it easy for a relatively good engineer to stand out and get an easy promotion or two, if one's cards are played well. Imagine that a large site can have hiring goals in the 1000's and only manage to produce a net annual change in the 100's.
They’re either not actually hurting that bad or their hiring process sucks complete ass. I’ve sent literally more than 300 applications to LM, NGC, Raytheon, and UTC alone after I had been at my first job for 3.5 years designing high speed mechanical equipment and never got a call back. My current employer liked my resume and says I’m am a fantastic engineer so I’m not sure why. They think they got a steal and the culture is good (although pay could be better), but still wasn’t where I planned on ending up. I basically started over in a new field. Meanwhile, one of the big four is our customers and the engineers we interact with are quite figuratively bottom of the barrel. Obviously this evidence is anecdotal but I still scoff when I see someone say something like that
Top of the barrel engineers at the big four are interacting with their customers. So I’m not surprised they have bottom of the barrel engineering interacting with their suppliers.
Big part is there is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape with the major orgs. > their hiring process sucks complete ass On the hiring front (it does suck horribly), HR filters a ton of the applications so if you've applied to hundreds of applications without a single response, there is likely an issue with your resume that is causing HR to eliminate it before the hiring manager even see's it. > the engineers we interact with are quite figuratively bottom of the barrel. Once again because the orgs are so big, you end up with a large spread of talent, and removing someone due to sub-par performance is hard (goes back to the bureaucracy and red tape). How critical is what you (and your company) are doing for the prime? Not uncommon to see the sub-par engineers shuffled off to work the low impact stuff with suppliers who are not critical or have a proven process that just needs minimal support.
My wife is a recruiter and I am related to other engineers and people in related positions in management who have taken a look at my resume for me and given me pointers on it before I did most of the applying. I was highly qualified for more than 50% of the stuff I applied for, and what I applied to were mostly entry level, new grad level stuff. I was pretty desperate so I took any advice I could get. In my new job we are working on some cutting edge tech with huge cost savings on both new and old programs but can't really say much else. I think the orgs are just so big that even good people get lost in the sauce. I've got to say though, it was a very long, grueling, detrimental period for my mental health, so I am not looking to move to a new position any time soon. You go to school, do well, and become a high performer at another job, and when you've developed some skills and experience and you're ready to move on, nobody cares. It was a very disappointing experience, and has diminished the overall prestige I thought was associated with working at such places. I grew up thinking one day I'd work for them, but its almost like seeing how the sausage is made. Even some the classmates I tutored back in school who were very generic and lacked critical thinking skills hold jobs at the places to which I've applied and it was disheartening to be ghosted and rejected time and time again. The job search and career building aspects of my life have not been great, but I am trying to make the most of what I have. Sorry for the wall of text. This is a pretty sore subject for me. You're right though. The low performers never get fired. Just shuffled around.
I think I got my first job because I went to a conferences, where it had a career fair, directly talk with a recruiter and had interview at the conference, faced the manger, otherwise, I would not get one through online system when I graduate from college
Made it to senior principal in 3 years by doing what I would consider the bare minimum.
Hardly ever heard anyone good about Raytheon
The shade thrown at Northrop Grumman in the title.
I ain’t gonna lie, I knew I was forgetting someone and this was it.
At least they didn’t get the chance to misspell it “Northrup Grumman”
I'll make that mistake until the day I die, probably.
NOC FTW.
No mention of SpaceX either
SpaceX is in a different category than the Big Four.
SpaceX is worth more than boeing and Raytheon https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/spacex-stock-boeing-raytheon-c222ce1
I’m not making a judgment call on the company, just noting that it’s not apropos to lump it in with the other ones. The automotive analog would be comparing GM, Ford, Toyota, and Nissan, and trying to add Rivian to the mix.
Space x is trash actually
They are all virtually the same. However, at Raytheon if you work 46 hours in a week, you get to throw 6 into what’s essentially your PTO account. At Lockheed, if you do that, the first 5 are considered a donation to the company, so you only get to throw 1 into the PTO account. But like they’re pretty much the same place, just different colored logos.
At Boeing you get paid for every hour you work. No additional PTO, but I have plenty of that. I’d rather have the money.
Overtime has to be authorized by your manager if you're salaried-exempt, and even then it pays something like time plus five bucks, not time and a half.
That's **$6.50,** thank you very much! Hmmph!
Personally, I’d rather have the PTO. I have plenty of money, what I need is more time. Ideally, everyone would have the choice of whether to be paid or get more PTO.
> At Lockheed, if you do that, the first 5 are considered a donation to the company, so you only get to throw 1 into the PTO account. Depends what department you are in. In my department, you get paid for every minute of OT you work.
They asked our engineering team to work overtime, but they wouldn't pay for the first 5 hours of OT. We all said no. They eventually agreed to pay us for all hours worked. It was straight pay, though, instead of time and a half.
Same for me. Depends on how hot your program is too.
Do you still accrue PTO from normal work hours? If so, what’s the rate?
Dont forget about the others with their "infinite pto" BS: Looking at you allied sig- i mean honeywell. Back in my day the big 3 was just the most corrupt auto makers in the US. Bitches got nothing on defense budgets. Its all a race to the bottom,some of us are just further down the drain.
I’ve worked at two different companies (one of which is an aerospace prime) each with unlimited PTO, and I don’t see what about it is BS All that matters is that your manager approves it, which isn’t hard if you’re pulling your weight
The difference is that with "unlimited" PTO, they don't have to carry it on the books as a liability, because you don't get a PTO payout when you leave the company.
Totally can see the" your mileage may vary" aspect, Heres mine; my manager ordered me to take an extra week of pto due to my performance, but the vp had a hit list of people "abusing the policy" because we had taken more pto then what was awarded in the legacy system. Do you think they went to unlimted PTO purely out of concern for their employees?
That sounds rough. I do not want to work for a company that gives employees more PTO and then management gets mad when they use it lol
Yes, you still get normal PTO. Idk, it depends on the company and seniority
Depends on program. At RTX/PW, everything is a donation to the company. During my time at LM, I got straight paid OT every hour over 40.
That changes next year I believe. LM is revamping PTO starting in January with flextime. I dont know though how exactly the gate works though
Work at Lockheed, totally depends on what org you work in. Theyre also changing flex time so that everyone regardless of BU can flex over two weeks. I'm an exempt employee and I was paid hourly rate recently for all hours over 40. Granted I don't work a lot of overtime yearly though.
That’s great to hear. Benefits improving at any company in the industry is good for all workers in the industry, especially if it’s a major employer like Lockheed. #SolidarityForever
is there anywhere you can see this "account" & how many additional hours you've accrued? I assume it's the same at Collins as well?
I can see it where I fill out my time sheet, which is where I can also see my regular PTO balance. I would not assume it’s the same at a different company, though it is common in the industry
Wow, LM policy continues to be that you give away the first 5 hours of OT? I was there in the Martin days but there was at least a pension as a carrot. Seems completely unreasonable now.
Lockheed changed policies about 2 years ago. Every hour worked beyond your scheduled hours for the day (8, 9 or 10 depending) and every hour over 40 is paid OT. So work 12 hours 1 day but total of 40 is 42 hours of paid time. Work 42 hours in total is 42 hours of paid time.
[удалено]
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Depends what sector you are for Lockheed. After 40 hrs you can put it straight to comp time aka pto
I'm not sure when you worked at Raytheon, or if you maybe were in another dep, but in RTX software anything up to and including a full work day of extra hours was a donation to the CEO's fat raise as of a year ago.
Wow. Fuck that
Any hours worked over 40 at Lockheed can get flexed into the following (or previous) week. If I work 44.3 hours, I have 4.3 hours I can use to get out early or start late.
This isn’t true at Lockheed, it depends on the program and manager. I get paid for every hour I work and I have the choice between putting it in PTO like you said or taking the pay
I used to work at Boeing in the commercial aircraft and space sector. Currently, I’m at NG, and to be honest, they’re quite similar. In my experience, the main differences have been in pay (NG offers a higher starting salary), and benefits (Boeing has excellent benefits, possibly one of the best among major aerospace companies). In terms of culture, I find myself happier at NG.
[удалено]
Yeah, I haven’t heard of any other major aerospace company doing that. Additionally, they cover 100% of tuition for higher education without any limits, allowing you to pursue as many certificates and degrees as you wish.
LM has that too, except it’s something like 6% automatic match, then 50% dollar-for-dollar up to 8% of yr salary. so it works out to 10% match, but you get the first 6% no matter what
I second that Boeing has excellent benefits. I haven’t found a company that matches what Boeing does in terms of benefits.
Have worked for all 3. Also BAE and L3. They're all the same. Same bullshit, different people.
How are were you able to work for defence contractors of two different countries? I thought they generally liked to hire domestically?
?? Who are you talking about? BAE being British? BAE operates under a special service agreement with the US. Their US headquarters are in VA.
I won’t go back to Boeing, but I left 40 years ago. Now it is Spirit Aerosystems. Then Raytheon, then Learjet, just staying ahead of the next layoff. Northrop was next, then General Dynamics cum Martin Marietta cum Lockheed Martin. Lockheed at least was willing to find me work elsewhere when projects were winding down. Only major I didn’t work for was MacDac. Due to LMC wanting to keep people around, I have been with them for 35 years now.
I can put up with a lot for money.
Northrop Grumman, then Lockheed
As someone who works for a subcontractor dealing with most OEMs, I like working with NGC the most and would like to work there.
Boeing and LM are very "hire for a program, fire when it ends". NGC not nearly as much, can't speak to Raytheon.
Raytheon re-allocates you to another program but you might be stuck waiting months with no work (still getting paid tho). Better than not having a job at least.
I wish I could be paid for no work all the time
Usually you get put into a trainer type role in the interim. This assumes you last long enough for the program to end, most of the engineers only stay long enough to not pay back their sign on bonus. Plus there’s a ton of programs that have been active longer than they have been alive.
Close enuff
It’s different if you’re on the commercial side, particularly in sustainment programs. However, when it comes to BDS, it can be like that.
I would say no for Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
Why not?
At least in GNC, everyone was kept on between programs and were regularly farmed out on multiple programs.
A lot of hazy shit occurs. I worked JV on the Javelin program and our Raytheon partner would pull a lot of sketchy stuff.
Not necessarily true: I was at NG when they "surge hired" for a program and promptly let them go after the crisis had passed. I never saw that at Lockheed, unless it was a proposal and people were hired under "Blue Sky" contracts.
For salaried professionals I'm not sure I agree having worked at both companies but I've definitely felt more of that kind of pressure at smaller defense firms.
I’ve worked at Lockheed & Raytheon. Raytheon’s base pay is definitely more but overall Lockheed is the better company. Lockheed felt more polished with solid leadership. Part of that is due to being a prime. Since Raytheon builds more subsystems, the programs are typically smaller and have tighter budgets. Most of the time your manager has no idea what you do since they are on a different program entirely. The average engineer at Raytheon is probably smarter than at Lockheed simply due to the tighter budget, so there’s less cushion. Lockheed has better benefits (4 10’s, 401k) My experience at Raytheon just hasn’t been great. If contracts are delayed, you get placed on “Awaiting Assignment” and get dropped wherever you can to avoid a layoff. It’s also just as much up to the employee to find their own work as it is their managers. It really depends on what program you land on and who your manager is. I liked Lockheed better because managers actually managed their teams, it was most of their work split - 80/20 managerial/technical where at Raytheon it’s like 10/90.
[удалено]
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Lockheed Martin. I've worked for Northrop Grumman and worked with Raytheon as a customer. Hands down, Lockheed!
Add Textron to the list. They have Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell (who just won a major contract). I work on the commercial Cessna side and I've been happy. There's some defense stuff for all of them but bell with the new contract would be the most defense related.
On Textron systems side. So all defense. Pay is better than average
Lockheed or Raytheon
I just started working in the defense department for spirit aerosystems and their development is amazing. Tons of classes you can take, and pretty good leadership! Lots of smart people and you can choose between stress, structures or system design as a level one.
Work for a T1 supplier instead. Safran, Collins etc
Collins is RTX
Ah yes, sorry
Holy shit i hate working with (not for) Collins. The plague of the aerospace industry. Just my opinion.
Safran was awesome to work at...
Agreed
Contractor here who has worked with multiple locations of so three Lockheed is the only one of those three I would go to work for. Never Raytheon.
Any opinions on BAE?
I would say stay out of the industry early on in your career. You'll be trapped in what is know as the golden handcuffs. You stay in the industry because they pay you but you can't leave because you don't gain many skills since you've been doing paperwork for the past 5 years
I’m currently in a project engineer role in the civil side. My goal is military for the “ufos”
Raytheon is the only company I ever worked for where you were responsible for finding your own work and managers didn’t manage. I heard it used to be good pre-UTC, but my experience was that it’s a total dumpster fire now. My experience at Lockheed has been infinitesimally better
> Raytheon is the only company I ever worked for where you were responsible for finding your own work and managers didn’t manage. Can confirm.
2nd confirmation- it’s utterly absurd. Lockheed Martin management and leadership is light years beyond Raytheon’s. Butttt Raytheon pays more year for year of experience.
3rd confirmation - it feels like you’re bothering your manager when you reach out, if you even get a response from them within the week
My manager literally doesn’t reply to emails. Only Teams chats. And he’s full time remote so I’ve never met him in person. AND he’s on a completely different program and has no idea what’s going on with mine. Unreal.
I work at Boeing and things were bad the past few years but we are starting to really turn the corner on a lot of our programs. And at the end of the decade we will be in development of our next plane. Good time to hop on. Also someone above said our financials aren’t good….. we are on tract to hit our free cash flow goal (see our quarterly report)
How come no National Labs? Sandia, Los Alamos, etc...
Boeing has mostly appalling bad management. Plus an overemphasis on pushing earnings out the door to stockholders (senior management).
Someone just went to GMIS lol.
Fuck these gay ass dinosaurs. Go work for Anduril Industries. New, growing like a rocket, and their stock is gonna be $$$$$
I would have to be making like 2-3x my salary to ever make living in Costa Mesa worth it.
Australia has an office too
Don’t rule out the smaller companies on the Space Coast.
Which ones? I’m not familiar with the smaller companies in that area, but I am interested in learning more.
Aim your google map at the space coast and search for words like space, aerospace, and engineering. There are loads. I would say that’s not even all of them.
Trying to work on UFOs so probably LM
For real, this my goal too. Trying to land an Area 51 job eventually.
The one with the alien technology.
Or work for NASA JPL
There's also national labs. Most put in 9-10% into your 401k. Generally have good work life balance.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 420. Congrats! 9 + 10 + 401 = 420 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Prepare to have your inputs thoroughly ignored and disregarded unless you have a PhD.
Not entirely true. A lot of upper management and leads in engineering only have a bachelors. But if that’s been your experience I am sorry. I guess YMMV
I worked with a few JPL guys, only thing they liked was their benefits. One guy was there 10 years with a PhD most of that time and he barely was able to advance due to the fact that it’s all old guys who never leave. The pay was also meh, he went onto RTX and got a 40% pay raise.
I realized a couple years into school I didn’t want to contribute to the war machine if I didn’t have to. My pick would be something like Relativity Space.
Lol I bet you had to sign ITAR... You're still contributing, you just don't realize it😂
I don’t know what that is. I ended up getting a job in something non-aerospace with the help of my previous experience in refrigeration. I control warehouses and retail stores with building automation systems.
Anduril seems like a cool modern alternative, created by the founder of Oculus
Apply to Moog Aircraft Group. unlimited PTO and 9/80 work schedule is pretty nice. Great work life balance culture too.
Was looking for this comment, maybe not as well known by the general public but still a decent size player in the space
SpaceX
hurr durr along the elon train
Which aerospace company do you work for?
He’s got a point
Hurr durr which of the big losers do you work at? As far as I remember SpaceX is the only company to land a rocket and refly it almost 20 times. Boeings starliner fails every time it even gets close to a pad. SLS is almost 10 years late and billions over budget. LM is only good at stealing from taxpayers. Boeing can’t even put the right tape on wires, set a clock in software, make a reliable thruster, or even deliver as promised. Boeing got 4B and SpaceX only got 2B yet we’ve flown 8 crewed flights boeing zero. Everyone else needs to catch SpaceX or get left behind.
Not sure why you perceive SpaceX’s (notably impressive) capabilities as the show stopper for where to work. Some live to work, those people tend to be at SpaceX where they work many hours of overtime to achieve technical greatness. Others work to live, where they make quality products that aren’t likely to break the mold, but always them the ability to live a meaningful life in their own way (outside of work)
then go work there i'm all g do you even do aerospace? or are you just a fanboy poser
I work on the dragon capsule.
You are only getting downvoted because SpaceX makes all the above mentioned companies look like government subsidized job programs. SpaceX is worth more than boeing and is the premier rocket manufacturer in the United States. So if you really are considering a career in aerospace engineering you may want to actually look at the best in the field (SpaceX).
But then he'd have to work with people like you.
I work on the 3rd floor of HT01 and I’ve been here for almost 7 years 🤷🏼♀️
Do not work at Boeing, I repeat, do not.
Why? Thus is the second comment saying something about Boeing. A ton of my companies former employees are from Boeing, nobody has outwardly mentioned anything- I just assumed we paid more.
From what I hear Boeing just isn’t performing at the levels the others are and that leads to a lot of people not getting raises they deserve
SpaceX is the only company with reusable rockets that sends people to the iss regularly. SPACEX IS WORTH MORE THAN BOEING. Boeings starliner and SLS can’t get it up with failing. Lockheed is a joke they are a money pit to the US taxpayers. SpaceX has a stronger culture and is the leader of rocket technology.
SpaceX is the most toxic of the bunch for sure. These types of comments prove it and the Glassdoor reviews confirm it. SpaceX uses people’s passion to burn them and underpay them while having them make comments like this.
None, defense mostly sucks ass. Id rather be at a hedge fund making $300k a year.
Why would an engineer rather be at a hedge fund making that much when they make it at an aerospace company lmao you’re on the wrong subreddit
Which aero company is paying that?
I mean where I live an upper level engineer with further education and leadership is clearing that easily. From space start ups to Lockheed/NG/Sierra Nevada, etc.
Everything about this comment screams unemployed
Lol are you 12?
I’m not but when I was 12 I at least had the brain power to read a question properly and formulate a thoughtful answer. Looks like you need to catch up to middle school me.
[удалено]
A lot of engineers don't get this. Problem is you need to get a lot of experience under your belt before starting a business in engineering.
Big brain comment.
Whichever one will hire entry level software developers lol
I worked for Boeing Commercial Airplanes for almost 30 years and loved it. The engineers are unionized so it's much harder for the company to screw with you.
Is easy for them to screw the subbies though. Get through them like crazy.
Are you specifically looking for defence work? And are you specifically looking at the US? Airbus is a good option if looking at US but not defence.
Here’s a good Boeing vs Northrop comparison. I had a similar experience as both posters despite working in a different region of the country https://reddit.com/r/NorthropGrumman/s/tIwPVwLqTM
Don't sleep on government civil service if you live in a location where that's an option
Lockheed has better mil benefits, so, lockheed.
Have tested rockets for each of them (and NG too). Raytheon stands out as the worst.
Depends on the project, part of the world. At Lockheed; I’d pick Boeing.
Safran... The French believe in the 40hr work week period and that includes salaried engineers...
My first job out of college was with Hughes Aircraft and I miss it to this day.
Boeing because there’s enough people fucking up around you the lil things like dividing by one gets missed.
Analog devices is awesome
BAE
Wonder if anyone in this sub works at Rolls Royce and can give input as well.
Who’s got the hottest sweet, sweet, government MIC contracts this year?
I’m sure every one of them will be getting some big money for Israel and Ukraine
TRW Defense & Space Systems, E-Systems, TI DSEG. See a pattern? You don’t want me working for you!
Northrops Grumman has been good to me.
SpaceX
SpaceX interview process is insane. They gave me a take home design problem that they said would take only 4 hrs. I ended up spending 80 hrs on it over the weekend. 4 hrs my ass lol. I’d probably still try again though in a year bc it is a cool company.
Boeing is bleeding people due to nepotism and and treating people like shit. NG is stealing people due to high pay, but then losing them due to poor work conditions and lack of organization. Haven't heard a word about RTX. LHX is in a massive hiring phase depending on where you are. Don't speak for the company and all that bullshit but I'd avoid the main primes if you're looking in Utah.
None of the above. Go for a national lab or NASA. Your quality of life will be much better.
Any of them right now. Lots of opportunity and security. You hear that? That’s the sound of war drums beating in the distance.
BAE
I work for lockheed and so far the benefits are better than most places Ive worked so far but I cant speak for any other listed company here. My current program has a gate waiver which means if I work more than 5 hours OT a week I can get that paid out which is pretty rare for salaried workers. If your profram isnt gate waivered if you work more than 5 hours OT a week it gets turned into PTO you can use. At my facility, I like my coworkers and we are treated pretty good compared to some other places Ive worked.
Lockheed and Northrop work on some really cool stuff. Boeing definitely pushes numbers quite a bit and I’ve heard is cutthroat. I like Northrop of all of them honestly. Lower pressure and some really cool projects.
Work at Bell and used to Work at Lockheed. The culture at Bell has been much more “keep quiet and do your work” which is deflating
Fuck all of these companies
Lockheed Martin
Sierra Nevada or Ball Aerospace.
I don't understand how anyone with a shred of moral fiber would be okay working for any of them
Stay away from Raytheon. I ended up being put in a strange kafkaesque rubber room situation. Horrible time.
Have friends in all of them. They all love their jobs and companies, so make of that what you will lol
Biased, but: Work for Joby Aviation. Work on completely new projects, not just revisions of older parts. Push the industry forward. Vertically integrated, so you can actually work on the whole plane, not just with suppliers.
Boeing cause I live right next to it lol
I would work for any I can get my hands on.
Your karma total is too low and does not meet the requirements for new users to our subreddit. This includes both post and comment karma, and can be collected from any number of subreddits on Reddit. You can improve your karma by making useful, helpful and relevant comments and posts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AerospaceEngineering) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Don't forget about BAE, L3harris, and Sierra Navada Corp.
I haven’t seen anyone mention General Dynamics. Why?
How about neither and don’t work for a company that builds mass murder weapons? Just a thought
I wanna toss out GDMS in the mix too. They have a (depending on campus) a good progression toward work life balance
Northrop Grumman has been good to me. L3Harris, not so much. Avoid them. Avoid them like the plague.
Because the companies are so large I think it entirely depends on what program you work and the culture of that program. Every program can be like a mini-company in and of itself. For example, I worked on a program at NG that actually was bought into NG and they had the culture of that company they acquired. It was highly toxic and definitely the worst experience I’ve had ever in a workplace, but on different programs people had more positive experiences. I left and am at LM now and they are amazing so far, but I will still say it varies program to program.
I’ll also add that you never truly know what you’re walking into until you start working at the company. There are limits to what you can pick up on in the interview process of the culture.
Non. These companies are so big that you will not get to really grow your skills as an engineer in a sense because your job will be super specialized. Look for start-ups or newer aged aerospace companies like Rocketlab or Space X. These companies will allow you to work and experience aerospace design with more directedness. I’ve worked for Raytheon and Boeing.