09/26/2010 - Rockville, MD

09/26/2010

Category
Pay	4
Respect	4
Benefits	4
Job Security	3
Work/Life Balance	4
Career Growth	2
Location	3
Co-Workers	2
Work Environment	3

BAE Systems is one of the largest Defense/Aerospace contractors in the world and operates facilities and project sites all over the globe. Your experience as an employee will depend almost entirely on the specific project you are hired to work on. The benefits are just about the only thing that would be consistent between the different business units, and I'm not even sure that's true in all cases.

The US company is a non-cohesive collection of business units, most of which were gathered by acquisition over the last 10 or 12 years. That doesn't significantly affect day-to-day operations but does impact your ability to grow professionally within the organization over the long-term. No corporate goals or objectives encompassing the entire organization are communicated, so it's difficult to determine what an employee can work on - in terms of professional development - that might be seen as bringing greater value to the company.

Managers will tell you to make up professional and development goals because they don't have any real corporate guidance either. So, even if you do achieve your set goals, they might be pretty worthless to the project you're working on, the current customer, and the company. Let's face it - you just dreamed them up!

Project management seems to be pretty much a question of getting direct tasking from government liaison officers, etc. and passing it along to the minions. There's some company rhetoric about delivering quality results to meet customer requirements but, in reality, it's about tasks, not requirements. Quality assurance or validation don't enter into it. Don't worry about whether it makes any sense or adds value - just do it.

The upside is that, at least on the contract I worked on, I never had to work very hard and I made pretty good money with decent benefits. On only a few occasions did I have to work late or on weekends and when I did, I just worked fewer hours later in the week. There was never a case where I was expected to do proposal writing or any non-billable stuff that I couldn't include on my regular time sheet. Even when some manager would ask me to do something and it ended up just getting tossed because nobody really cared, I got paid. (Your tax dollars at work.)

It does seem like communication between corporate HQ and the project sites has improved in recent years and it will probably continue to do so. There's also been improvements in the administration of payroll and benefits, etc. When I started, that stuff was pretty lame and I heard some real horror stories from the very early years, too.

So, it's a good place to work, at least for some people in some situations. However, it's not for the really ambitious type.

05/20/2010 - Herndon, VA

05/20/2010

Category
Pay	3
Respect	4
Benefits	5
Job Security	3
Work/Life Balance	2
Career Growth	4
Location	5
Co-Workers	5
Work Environment	4

It all depends on what department you work for. I can give a really good grade for my department, but if I were an employee of another, it could be a very poor grade. Overall, it's a huge company, so processing things can be slow. I have seen a lot of turnover here across the board in various departments in northern virginia. I couldn't ask for better management than I have. I also work with some of the most knowledgable people I know in the industry.

The benefits are good. Across the board it's 21 days off per year no matter how long you've been there as well as 10 government holidays. You don't lose PTO hours at the end of the year, unless there's an excessive amount. For those hours you don't use, you can get paid for those PTO hours. That's an extremely good deal compared to most companies.

01/12/2010 - Greenlawn, NY

01/12/2010

Category
Pay	3
Respect	4
Benefits	5
Job Security	5
Work/Life Balance	5
Career Growth	4
Location	3
Co-Workers	3
Work Environment	3

BAE Systems is a great place to work if your main goals in life are: to have a good work/life balance, a long career in the defense industry, and good, but not great pay. As others have mentioned, some areas (including Greenlawn) had recent layoffs. But despite the decrease in workforce, business is still doing decently well given the overall slumping economy.

I truly think that an employee's experience at BAE Systems varies from site to site. In general, most people are nice and will try to help you (even though you may know more than them). But there are incompetent people or people who could careless about the work they do -- it really depends on what group you get staffed in or what projects you're working on.

Opportunities to grow depend on the older generation stepping down; unfortunately, many older employees don't want to retire until 65+ and as a result, opportunities for growth can be limited. But all in all, an above average company to work for.

04/04/2008 - Greenlawn, NY

04/04/2008

Category
Pay	5
Respect	5
Benefits	5
Job Security	5
Work/Life Balance	5
Career Growth	5
Location	4
Co-Workers	5
Work Environment	5

BAE Greenlawn is the best place I have ever worked. The people are just amazing and the managers can really spot talent. The engineers there are just brilliant and VERY supportive of each other. It is definately a great team atmosphere and homely. I would recommend any engineer to work here. It is just an amazing experience.

03/06/2008 - Lexington, MA

03/06/2008

Category
Pay	5
Respect	5
Benefits	5
Job Security	5
Work/Life Balance	5
Career Growth	5
Location	4
Co-Workers	5
Work Environment	4

This company is great, they really take care of their employees. It is fair to say that this is the best job I ever had. Great growth potential, shifts, and best of all: superiors are intelligent. Building could use some updating - easier said than done. People are generally friendly and concerned about doing their own job well which helps everyone meet the common goal of high performance.

Jobitorial - BAE SYSTEMS - Company Reviews

09/26/2010 - Rockville, MD

05/20/2010 - Herndon, VA

01/12/2010 - Greenlawn, NY

04/04/2008 - Greenlawn, NY

03/06/2008 - Lexington, MA