Caterpillar Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – Plenty of opportunity, good pay, worldwide operation provides insight into large corporations and how they function. Technology mixed with core manufacturing

Cons – Large! makes it hard to stand out. A lot of politics as you would expect for an organization of that size

Advice to Senior Management – Wouldn't presume to offer advice to someone who is willing to take on such a large responsibility for others. Good luck!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Caterpillar

Pros – The name. Period. Looks good on a resume. Intern salary is based on how many credit hours you took the semester before you start your internship, so if you are an ambitious student you can receive good pay for the four months.

Cons – Where do I begin. Caterpillar is a household name in Peoria, but when working there it seems that company business should be in a gossip column instead of the business page. It does not matter the hard work you put in at CAT, it is who you know and what you can do for them. The work environment is unprofessional and condescending. Upper management will mislead you and depending on the area you work for you may or may not ever be able to climb the corporate ladder. Watch out for empty promises for promotions. CAT's "Core Values" are a farce to cover up for their underlying scheming mentality. Do not take anything for face value. Unqualified people are being promoted where as the hard workers are being overlooked. It goes back to the whole 80/20 rule... 20 percent of the people are doing 80 percent of the work... but it is that 20 percent that is being overlooked.

Advice to Senior Management – Take care of your people like you used to. CAT as a household name today could end up being "Caterpillar who?" in the future.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Caterpillar

Pros – The company was in its first year with Caterpillar so there were a lot of evolving changes to get this company up to speed. The people were great to work with and there was a genuine commitment from most employees to produce a great product. Middle management were the as good as the best I have worked with in the past.

Cons – I found senior management to be mostly a competent group and I enjoyed working with them, but as is the case with a few places I have been to, middle management and below really had a tough time swallowing what top management was serving up. Sometimes the complaints seemed valid to me and at other times it is just the way it is everywhere. I think they needed a flatter organizational chart to create a better "team environment".

Advice to Senior Management – Rule by decree is a dead standard and will not stand the test of time. As I said, this division was in transition and change will come.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – smart people
good comp
world presence
good resume builder

Cons – oldie org
located in smaller cities

Advice to Senior Management – change the culture to one that values new ideas

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – strong technical analyses in certain areas. good repository of knowledge. decent pay. many people have worked for 30 -35 yrs internally.

Cons – many sections resemble good old boys club with people using talking skills and street smarts to cover up lack of technical knowledge and advance their careers. organization seems top heavy with distinction btw upper management and others. (not many companies use such words). efforts are not rewarded with better opportunities and there is a strong bias in favor of age (older you are better you must be) bad situation for younger employees who want to prove themselves. ideal company for people who are just looking forward to retirement.

Advice to Senior Management – reward performance with opportunities and treat everyone fairly

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Caterpillar

Pros – Good pay, reasonable hours, great opportunities for advancement, very good middle management, impressive manufacturing capability, strong supply and customer base, and overall a good place to work.

Cons – In a company as large as Caterpillar it is often easy to get lost in the shuffle and not see how what you are doing is affecting the bottom line of the company.

Advice to Senior Management – You run the company with sound financial practice, but need to realize that CAT sells technically advanced machinery, not mutual funds. More than just shoving money at product development there needs to be good judgment and accountability to see that technically sound advancements are being made that truly enable the production of better machinery for the customer.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – Most managers within Cat trust their employees and extend signficant responsibility to their reports. Cross discipline assignments are common and employees are generally permitted ample opportunities for career development.

Cons – Cat is a conservative company and many areas still resemble the "good old boys club". Promotions and highly desireable opportunities are often known to a select few. Many job opportunities are not posted for general employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Post all positions for all employees to review and potentially bid within their respective salary grades. Provide clear expectations and required experience levels for these positions.

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – as a heavy equipment manufacturer, it provides almost all engineering disciplines for an engineer. so it is a good place for an engineer to furnish your engineering skills. Also, pay is competitive.

Cons – life in Peoria may be boring for some people, as it is a small city in central Illinois. Recent layoff is frightening.

Advice to Senior Management – do not restructure too often. it happens that whenever a new leadership is taking place, a large scale restructuring will be underway, while the work content will just remain the same.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Caterpillar

Pros – Great company to work for. I had a blast working for this company. I was given major assignments and My boss was good at good at sending us for training. This company invests a lot of money in R&D.

Cons – It's a bit hard to break the old practice, but I would recommend Caterpillar to anyone who is looking for a place to grow professionally.

Advice to Senior Management – Encourage innovation from new engineers and update engineering standards to reflect up-to-date processes. Invite you senior employee to think outside the box and design programs (culture not tools) to update their skills

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Caterpillar

Pros – there are some good people within management who truely believe in the work that everyone is doing but at the same time there are also some people who do not deserve to be there. There seems to be an interest in developing people, but not as much as they should

Cons – too much fat around the company, its hard to get things done, people might just ignore you or not tell you that your are wrong, but everyone knows who they are so they stay away from them. At the same time, the fat of the company does not seem to be removed during the downturn, in fact it seems like the there is more fat. I heard many people from one of the leadership programs left during the Voluntary Separation Package. As a new employee, that tells me that the management needs to reconsider their options and how they are training their employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep the right kind of people with the company and get rid of the fat that is destroying your name/reputation.