Jacobs Engineering Reviews

Pros

Great company atmosphere, very different feels in different offices. Good support and balance of work-play. Higher level employees are extremely competent and helpful.

Cons

Did not get a huge variety of work, since my office was focused on one project, but generally a good experience.

Pros

Has some decent technical people
Ok once you are in the clique

Cons

Really gone downhill in the last five years,
Misguided obsession with health and safety,
Perfectly happy to hang you out to dry if your face doesn't fit.

Advice to Senior Management

Company logo "People are our greatest asset", you should really try harder to apply this
Value technical people, not just project managers and administrative hangers on

Pros

Jacobs is a large company that offers lots of opportunities to change jobs or advance your career.

Cons

The company is so aggressive in purchasing companies that Jacobs does not have a culture established (except for one that buys other companies).

Advice to Senior Management

Continually solicit feedback from managers and staff.

Pros

Pay was comparable or better than other in industry.
Great groups of people in many of the offices.
Access to "non-normal" projects.

Cons

Total lack of understanding from just about all levels of management. The way they grow is by buying out smaller firms and then forcing their old, outdated and unorthodox ways of management upon everyone.
No understanding of technology. Many of those making the call on the technology that users have access to or that is considered/forced to be the standard, have no grasp of what is or isn't productive.
No "proper" sharing of technology.
No open to new ideas, or better ideas.

Advice to Senior Management

Out with the OLD in with the new....

Pros

Benifits are ecelent from the start.

Cons

No advancement even when your knledge and skills are proven.

Advice to Senior Management

Care

Pros

Pay is decent, above average for enrty-level positions. The Jacobs name is know world wide. This is a great place to learn when just starting out.

Cons

No regard for employment morale. Organization is a huge challenge. Matrix style of management does not work well with small production staff.

Pros

ESC contract is the engineering contract for NASA Johnson Space Center. If you are lucky, you get to work on pretty cool stuff. It is exciting and challenging with very interesting problems to solve. I really enjoy my time there. People are great and direct line manager is very flexible.

Cons

You can get stuck in a hole where you are too specialized to go anywhere else and your skills can sometimes become obselete.
Old people with 1960's mentality sometimes, very hard for generation Y.

Advice to Senior Management

Think about career development for the younger folks or you will not be able to keep them for long!

Pros

Flexible with vacations/ leave time
Decent salary
There are a lot of great people who work for Jacobs (management excluded)

Cons

Zero room for advancement. To move up- someone in a higher position has to leave or get fired and at the highest level there is no way to advance.
Management has no clue what you do and rarely do you see them- they are out of touch with the real workforce
Rarely does anyone give you a pat on the back for a job well done, and half the time someone else or someone higher up gets the credit for work you did.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of your employees, and try your best to get advancements for them- especially the ones who are always trying to learn new things (outside of work) and stay ahead of the curve.

Pros

Very competitive salary structure with lot of opportunities located all over the world. Jacobs is a very conservatively run, multi-disciplined, well managed, and financially solid firm.

Cons

A myriad of sub-corporations further broken down by regionalized structure makes knowledge/experience transfer problematic; and at times, creates artificial barriers that can get in the way of pursuing/winning marquee projects. A fierce, restrictive control of overhead expenses reduces efficiency and at times, bottlenecks approvals at unusually high levels.

Advice to Senior Management

To transform into a great company, you must root out and eliminate bureaucracy with a vengence, empower your mid and upper level managers, invest in technology that makes your working staff more efficient, and encourage a greater sense of entrepenurialship.

Pros

good resoucres both in personnel and software.

Cons

Some senior personnel arrogant and abusive to cliets and other employees

Advice to Senior Management

Perform lng term startegic planning instead of short term "Who is billable?, planning