Stress Engineering Services Reviews

Pros

Got to work with very smart folks, many of whom I will always consider my mentors. As a young engineer, you got to go deep into the engineering details of a variety of products & processes, across multiple industries. From the technical perspective, a very satisfying experience. The ESOP will not look very attractive to new employees but pay is still in the top percentile for engineers.

Cons

Practically no management! It was fine when the work was flowing in and profits were automatic. But when the music stopped all the fissures were exposed and the wheels started to come off! Most of the negative comments about work stress, favoritism, friends & family, top heavy management, etc. are all true to varying extents. In the end, unless you get lucky or happen to be a 'favored' employee, the only way to career growth is to slog it our 12 plus hours a day. If that works for you, you can still make a lot of money. Management is generally tone deaf - just read the CFO's review below. New strategies are typically based on the whims & fancies of a few in the leadership.

Pros

good building and parking space

Cons

poor quality work, behavior, uneducated people

Pros

You have the opportunity to work with many intelligent peers in an environment that challenges you with new ideas and projects on an almost weekly basis. You will never become bored or complacent with your work. They pay well, and offer bonuses and overtime(which is often unheard of for the salaried engineer). There is a potential to make a lot of money working for stress, and if you're good at what you do, you can become their resident expert and make a name for yourself within Stress and within the community. For PE's, they make it easy to keep on track with your required hours and learning commitments. They have high safety standards and take it very seriously. All testing is conducted safely and with multiple reviews.

Cons

Stress operates like dysfunctional hivemind swarm of microbusinesses straight out of the Necronomicon. Each microbusiness is comprised of the project manager and their favorite subordinate engineer or two. As one of the subordinates, your days will be spent "stressed" out attempting to complete tasks in the time allotted by the project manager (PM) in the proposal. The hours allotted for your tasks will be the bare minimum if everything goes perfectly well, and if it doesn't you put that time on overhead. At the end of the project, your overhead time spent pleasing the client and fixing unexpected problems turns into disciplinary actions and verbal ear beatings. When times are tough and there aren't many projects to go around, PM's can and do hoard projects to keep themselves off overhead, further complicating issues for non PM's who don't have this ability. The inherit nature of billable hours cultures a cutthroat environment and a general lack of knowledge shared. Management turns a blind eye to this and gives praise to the PM's who maintain their billable hours, further re-enforcing this closed-door "only look out for yourself" environment. While this may just be part of working in a service industry subject to billable hours, it has stifled growth and bred resentment within Stress. On another note, Stress is slow to adapt to emerging technologies and prefers to "stick with what works". They're reluctant to invest in something unless it FIRST brings them tangible income...impossible right? They underestimate their client's ability and over estimate their own. As more of their clients learn they can bring the testing in house, Stress will be left holding their 15-25 year old data acquisition hardware and prized load frames. Technology is expanding and without continued adoption, your value to clients will decrease. You may take this review with a grain of salt because things may have changed since I last worked there. However, I will say this with absolute certainty, so do not misconstrue my words, I am much happier at my new place of work. The management is better, there are no cut-throat office politics, and no fighting over billable hours. We invest properly in new technology properly and reap the reward of being the leader in our industry and paving the way for others. Will Stress follow this path? I hope so, but am not optimistic, that's why I left. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Pros

Stress Engineering is highly regarded as a problem solving technical consulting firm. SES hires mostly Masters and PhD engineers, who are amazing people to work with, so no technical challenge is too great. Best of all, high performers are left alone to do what they love: solve clients’ technical challenges.

Cons

Some of the other posts here have zingers and backhanded compliments pretending to be “Pros.” I would just say to those folks, if you’re unhappy at SES, then you probably won’t be happy anywhere. Why anyone would write such negative things on Glassdoor about their own company makes a sad statement about the author, not the company. SES has its challenges, and all of them are solvable. You can’t please everyone, and not every management decision is universally embraced, but on balance SES is heading in the right direction.

Pros

Good work conditions and location.

Cons

Nothing bad to say about this company.

Pros

great environment and holidays off

Cons

more bonus and more training