Aerospace Corporation Reviews in El Segundo, CA

Pros

+ Stability for performers
+ Large latitude and freedom given to technical staff
+ 9/80 RDO (every other friday off) encouraged and can be taken most of the time (Extra month off / year)
+ benefits are comparable with industry
+ start with 15 days vacation, 20 days at 5 years
+ essentially unlimited sick time
+ supports continuing education (minimum 40 hours / year required)
+ collegiate atmosphere between employees
+ work with some of the brightest and experienced minds in the field

Cons

- Raises not as good as private sector; make sure you are happy with your salary coming in.
- Travel required (could be positive if you like to travel a lot)
- stiff competition for best jobs

Pros

Aerospace focuses on problem solving for other people, whether it's testing a system to determine why it doesn't work correctly or prototyping a new design to demonstrate the feasibility of doing something. This means the work is constantly changing and requires a wide breadth of knowledge, great for people who like to learn by doing. The work environment is very relaxed and low stress and the benefits are solid. They do their best to take care of employees.

Cons

Some projects are uninteresting but necessary. Sometimes you'll get stuck supporting meetings for no particular reason. You need to work on making connections with people that have interesting work so you don't get stuck doing something boring because you need to fill your hours.

People are rewarded primarily through experience and not as much through merit. While good for building loyalty from long-time employees, it makes it harder to acquire and keep young talent.

Pros

Aero.Corp. plays a very important role in the acquisition of government satellites, which can be very rewarding. The company has an outstanding reputation.

Cons

Because many staff have been in place for decades, there is little room for advancement. Being tied to the DOD places extreme limitations on salary and other benefits.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people fairly and recognize them for their hard work. Without the infusion of good young people the corporation will be a difficult position in the next 5-10 years.

Pros

Work environment is fair. Balance work and family time.

Cons

Low pay as compared to other aerospace companies

Advice to Senior Management

Management has tendency to protect each other. Does not listen or respect the feedback from employees about a manager.

Pros

Aerospace Corp has good employee benefits, such as health care and retirement options. New hires receive significantly fewer of these options. The "old" system of a big pension is gone from Aerospace. The main location is in El Segundo, which is convenient to the I-405 or I-10 in Los Angles, CA.

Cons

Half of Aerospace's "new hires" are retirees from Aerospace industry contractors or academia. It is apparently a great place to retire to. A retirement home, of sorts, for end-of-career Aerospace engineers and scientists. New hires that are on the "young" end of the spectrum are expected to work long hours, to toe the line, and to focus their R&D interests on those of their bosses. Independent work and innovative thinking are discouraged. 90% of Aerospace income is from Air Force SMC and NRO. Anyone who brings in money from other outside sources will be punished. Yes, punished, for bringing in the wrong color of money. This is a very cold-war establishment laboratory. The only young engineers or scientists who should take jobs here are ones with no other options. Despite management promises that the corporation is trying to be more open, you will simply become a low cog in the machine, and will be relegated to a very specific job task, with no tolerance for innovation or new ideas.

Old-guard employees are very resistant to divulging their program-manager connections, making it very hard for anyone new to find a solid footing of financial support for their work at Aerospace. There are very good reasons that Aerospace is often specifically excluded from government BAA's and solicitations for innovative research. Such work, funded by "other-than-AF-SMC" parties, is discouraged at Aerospace. Your money is the wrong color. Go elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management

The Cold War is over. Aerospace Corporation may find ample short-term funding in projects like the 1980's-era "Star Wars" and the like, but pursuit of "good-for-business" but basically bad technological ideas leads to inconsistent funding for the company as a whole. Stop punishing employees who show skill in bringing in money from sources OTHER than AF-SMC. Otherwise, Aerospace will face the spectre of layoffs in down-years for defense funding. Oh wait, there likely will be layoffs in 2012. So much for that vaunted job security –– the only advantage Aerospace had over other employers to offer to potential employees.

Pros

Excellent community. Lots of events and informational sessions available to employees. Employees tend to love their jobs and stay their for a very long time.

Cons

Can be difficult to break out of the bureaucracy, especially in lower-level positions

Advice to Senior Management

Check in with interns and get feedback from them to see how they're doing

Pros

The Aerospace Corporation has really good management, and super flexible hours. Unlike most engineering companies, engineers at the Aerospace Corporation do not work long hours.

Cons

Because it is a Federally funded research and development center, there is not much room to grow in terms of the business side.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing a great job. The average employee age there is 55, so they are obviously doing something right, good work.

Pros

Secure, safe place to work in an unstable economy.
Great knowledge base; many subject matter experts.
Caring leadership; motivated to be diverse and open.
Excellent opportunity to serve our nation.
Many work/life balance groups/events/etc

Cons

Lots of bureaucracy; things move slowly at times
Secure and safe also means low performers are protected
A lot of opportunity for security infractions/violations
Doesn't have budgets like major for profit companies

Advice to Senior Management

Knowledge Transfer/Mentoring a big issue especially in ETG when program offices have little funding from programs during this economic downturn. Employees are seeking more transparency in corporate decisions with regards to salaries, RIFs, etc.

Pros

No pressure to work overtime, Stress free environment, Good work and life balance. Relative free to explorer different area.

Cons

Might need to read a lot of paperwork, Management might put reviewing reports and documents over doing engineering work/scientific innovations.

Pros

The employees of Aerospace are the reason to work in this company. Everyone seeks to help others succeed in their individual work efforts. The corporate environment is highly professional and encourages truth telling in all matters. The work is very interesting and the customer relationships are deep and meaningful.

Cons

To be increasingly successful within the Aerospace industry, you have to continually focus and refine your area of expertise. The technical complexity of the profession demands that attention to detail. As a person considers the value of increasing their specialization in a unique technical specialty, they must also be aware that specialization can limit opportunity outside the narrow area of expertise. Managing this balance can sometime be overlooked when the work is interesting and appears never-ending.

Advice to Senior Management

Management has done a superb job in steering the company through many changes. The road ahead presents very interesting opportunities and the management team continues to restructure and adapt to meet these challenges.