General Dynamics Reviews

Pros

Name alone...nice stepping stone for a "real" job.

Cons

Low compensation for such a large corporation
Benefits too expensive
No mid-manager oversight
Low tolerance for family issues
This company is only in the DOD contracting world for one think, making the most profit without sharing with employees and the people that ACTUALLY do the work. At first individuals are awe struck with the opportunity to work for a "Named" organization, but those smart enough soon figure out it is nothing but a govt. contracting company that milks our tax dollars with multi-million dollar military contracts - that are in fact NOT awarded correctly.

Advice to Senior Management

Open the door to your office and do some work
Know what your mid-managers are actually doing
Be visible in the field

Pros

Stress free environment while still accomplishing the mission. Many ex-military employees makes work environment desireable to me. We get along just fine. Deployment salary over 100K! Good place to jump start a professional career after a military commitment. This company has positions all over the world allowing for easy transfers if a move is in your future.

Cons

We have deployment rotations to the desert and not everyone pulls there weight. This puts added deployments on those who already fullfilled there fair share. Could be stressfull on those with families. Upside is you are very well compensated.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay in touch with your empoyees and publicly recognize performers while taking note of those who do not pull there weight. I think they do recognize performers very well but turn a blind eye to underperformers.

Pros

GD is a solid company with a great history, great reputation and incredible stability given the current and recent downturns in the employment market. The diversity of products and services almost ensure that the company can not only survive but prosper through changes in goverment leadership, spending and economic downturns.

Cons

Certain aspects of the company can be considered conservative while others are highly innovative and cutting-edge. There is still a large ex-military population of employees which serves the culture both positively and negatively. Overall, not many downsides that wouldn't be seen in other companies just in different ways.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the great work. Continue to maintain and/or grow marketshare in all industries. Keep our good name with the Street and with our customer communities.

Pros

Benifits package and vacation time is very good.

Cons

They seem to think that engineering staff are here to serve the "professional staff". The company is turning into an admin company not a development company. But it’s not surprising when all of the senior management is accountants and lawyers not engineers.

Advice to Senior Management

Refocus on being a technology company again. The paper pushers are here only to execute what technologies that are developed. And ask your self why is hundreds of thousands of dollars set aside to get a degree in business management but none to take refresher courses in the latest technologies coming down the pike, just because it’s not a degree course! So what your saying is as an engineer I can get a paid for degree in accounting but I can’t stay current in my field?

Pros

Job security. Benefits of a large corporation. Fairly flexible hours, depending on your manager. Good vacation. Variety of jobs and ability to move around. Education benefits.

Cons

Large corporation hassles and red tape. Health plan has gone downhill. Some very poor managers some how stay around too long. Some groups are very cliquish. Sometimes communication is very good but often it can be very poor.

Advice to Senior Management

Better communication. Plan tasks better in order to avoid the all too common "hurry we must stay on schedule" even though people are wasting hours on tasks that haven't been well thought out and the hours could have been better utilized later. Too much earned value pressure, it needs to be implemented correctly. IT group is horrendous (one solution does NOT fill all tasks). Need to do a better job of removing bad managers and rewards the top employees.

Pros

General Dynamics can provide one with the opportunity to work with the latest technology and contribute to our national defense while at the same time making a decent salary. The work can be fascinating at times.

Cons

The upper management (at least in GD-AIS) were mostly promoted from within. Their level of accomplishment was at best average during their years in middle management and program management yet some of them display a remarkable degree of arrogance now that they are in senior positions. It can be hard to tolerate at times...

Advice to Senior Management

Try to remember what it was like when you were in the middle ranks.

Pros

Pay range seems to be comparable to others like it. Very large company; you can get lost in the mix if you want to.

Cons

MINIMAL to no chance of internal promotion. Site leads and up are not equipped for those positions. Managerial expertise is not a pre-requisite for leadership position apparently. Performance evaluations and ratings are not always based on performance; emphasis seems to be based on what site leads or 'acquaintances' may say or 'have heard' about an individual.

Advice to Senior Management

Really get to know your people. Promote from within. Rate people based on performance, not 'who said what about who' feedback. Engage people and have genuine concern. Try to keep people, not lose them.

Pros

pride in work performed, technical challenges, and location. Employees are dedicated and always willing to work hard and help fellow engineers.

Cons

vacation days for years worked lags comparable jobs, could receive better pay elsewhere. Elimination of pension plan for new employees, while following industry trends, was made worse by cutbacks in company contribution to 401k plan. The combination of the two is a huge hit on retirement planning.

Advice to Senior Management

...

Pros

General Dynamics has good job security. Being a defense contractor means there will be jobs until we have world peace. The benefits aren't too bad.

Cons

General Dynamics and the other military subcontractors can be a magnetic industry. That is, once you're in you can't get out and it can be difficult to get jobs elsewhere. What people do at GD often doesn't translate to corporate work due to cultural and technology differences. There are exceptions to this and some pockets where amazing stuff happens.

In many parts of the company it's not fun to be at work and most of the employees I've spoken with don't really want to work there. They are there because they have nothing else going on or are comfortable.

Advice to Senior Management

Make General Dynamics a place people want to work at. This is often not the case. And, making it more fun is a cultural thing and not something you can program by giving away more hockey tickets.

Pros

A good place to start and build a resume for one to two years. The starting salary is very good but do not expect high raises.

Cons

The company seems very greedy. They do not have any flexibility. The benefits are lacking and the company dosent seem to care about its employees. We just are numbers to them.

Advice to Senior Management

Modernize the Benefits package. Two weeks of vacation for ten years is not enough. Allow flexible work hours. Currently 45 working hours is advised for sallaried, however, policy only says its 40n hours.