BAE Systems USA Employee Reviews about "9 80 work"

Pros

BAE has a decent 401k match, good educational opportunities, some potential to move _laterally_ within the organization, and a solid 9/80 schedule with some overtime pay. They will be in business for decades because of their established base in the defense industry & because defense always does well in a dangerous world.

Cons

BAE has struggled for the past 10 years with an aging workforce that, in large parts, is paid a lot more than it actually contributes. The benefits have deteriorated over the past 5 years for younger employees, but the older employees are grandfathered in so it does not matter to them. Conversely, if you have been at BAE longer than 10-15 years your experience is valued inside the company but not so much in the commercial world - you become a lifer and are stuck. Finally, BAE tends not to pay highly talented people much more than the average employee - the pay structure is just not set up that way.

Pros

Very smart people. 9/80 work schedule.

Cons

Hard to find procedures because there are a lot of long time workers that "just know how to do the job".

Pros

9/80 schedule Great for those who wish to coast to retirement or at the tail end of their careers and winding down.

Cons

New campus hires leave after a few years after finding out their compensation dramatically lags behind the industry and their peers. Huge age gap between engineers, most have either been at the company for < 2 years or > 20 years. The middle-level is non-existent due to attrition. Software management constantly does not see the need to invest in continuous improvement or reduction of technical debt. Projects constantly under-bid in order to meet schedule deadlines. A toxic culture has developed due to the factors above, being promoted into management means that you have either been an employee for a certain number of years or nepotism. The skilled and talented engineers recognize this sooner or later and leave for other opportunities. Software languages and frameworks severely outdated along with Software Engineering practices. Some skills learned here are very niche and only translate to very specific areas in defense software. Very hard for new joiners to contribute in a meaningful way as current projects are undocumented and require too much legacy/domain knowledge. As a consequence of this, tasks seen by Principal Engineers as menial and frustrating are assigned to younger engineers which perpetuate the cycle.

Pros

9/80 work week is key for work life balance.

Cons

male dominated (think 1980) Micro-managed regardless of job title Unqualified former service members get hired as Sr. Management, with no relevant experience.

Pros

awesome coworkers, stable job, 9-80 work week

Cons

big company - one size fits all benefits etc