RTX Software Engineering Manager II reviews

I don't mean to stress the cons, but these are the things that are "less than ideal". 1) Performance incentives straight out of communist Russia. Yearly bonuses for anyone below executive level are silly small (2-4%) and aren't based on individual performance, but overall business unit and company performance. Also, don't expect anything but a single-digit percentage raise...that's even if you consistently perform well, get a great performance rating, and get promoted. Then crack open the annual report and see some execs making multimillions that are getting better percentages from year-to-year. Average raises for engineers are 3% or 4%, with max around 8%. This is especially troubling for younger employees that need quicker growth to pay off student loans and start families. I've seen many bright engineers that start after college leave after 3-5 years and get 20%-30% raises to go to commercial companies (or even other defense contractors). As a result, much of the young top talent leaves quickly for greener pastures. That, and the fact that it's difficult to innovate due to points 2 and 3, below. 2) Aging workforce. They sure do know their stuff, but a lot of employees are grumpy old defense personalities from the tail end of the cold war era. They're also 90% men and they will make up the majority of your co-workers. I've heard estimates that as many as 50% of the company's engineers are aged 50 or older. Therefore, if you're 35 or younger, prepare to constantly feel like you're working with your dad...or grand-dad. Holy cynicism, batman. Expect change to happen very slowly. 3) Bureaucracy. The federal government imposes a seriously stifling wet blanket of rules and regulations on defense contractors. Pretty much everything is hugely confusing and difficult to navigate (think of doing your own taxes to the twenty-fifth power). There's redundancy in the government's own product line, and the sea of acronyms, paperwork, and process can make you feel small, inefficient, and like it's impossible to understand anything or get anything done. What you do get done will get done slowly.

Constantly being bullied, not cool. I wish work was easier but it was pretty dull. Constant curve balls, and change of direction that if you didn't duck or ran with the current you can get swallowed real easy. The team I managed was mediocre at best. Engineers were young and didn't have the smarts. Everyone's attitude is to do whatever benefits themselves. The company and products come third, fourth, or fifth. Recruiting was hard, almost impossible to hire people to come to Forest given the low wages, vacation, and benefits offered. Hard to climb the ladder in a manufacturing facility. There is very little design work, therefore if you want to work on projects where you do the same things over and over this might be the place. If you want a dynamic place with different projects etc. look elsewhere.