Jeppesen Sanderson Reviews

I have been working at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good work/life balance
Full of good, bright people who strive to make a difference.
Fun and interesting to be part of company that impacts the world of aviation/life as much as Jeppesen does.
Continued influence of parent company, Boeing, shows promise as the company's tries to evolve in a rapidly changing market place.

Cons – Senior management doesn't really understand technology development. They don't seem to have an understanding of large, complex technology projects. Consequently they can't provide a lot of clear direction/vision and then get skittish when projects don't proceed as planned.

Company's compensation structure relies too heavily on people wanting to work in aviation and historically might be willing to exchange some financial compensation to do that. Their comp structure is not mature when it comes to the various disciplines that play a part in successful software development.

HR has repeatedly shown that they view humans as resources and not as people. Slow to react when hiring is urgent. They lack knowledge of new disciplines that haven't traditionally been part of an aviation company.

Advice to Senior Management – Coordinate your product offerings!
* The number of redundant software projects with significant overlap is not indicative of a mature company.
* Your customers expect more integration when buying web-based products or apps. Current offerings are too isolated and lack the unified experience people expect when paying a premium to an industry leader.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than a year

Pros – This is a good company, in the sense of doing good in the world. It's also a good place to work, with a focus on employee satisfaction and professional interaction. They've had a very stable history, with 70+ years of consistent profitability. And it's a challenge as the company transitions to the digital realm.

Cons – Some unnecessary alarmism about profits, uncertainty about direction, and lack of leadership from the executives.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Jeppesen Sanderson as an intern for less than a year

Pros – The projects were very in depth. A wide variety of languages - from C# to Java to C++ - were used. The projects were very encompassing in that they involved anything from heavy OOP programming to low level bit manipulation and storage.

Cons – Jumping in, all of the details behind the flight system software can be a little daunting. There are a ton of acronyms. The curve to learn this was at about a month to me. After that, everything else goes smoothly.

Advice to Senior Management – Upper management is very friendly. The atmosphere is very welcoming and I saw no elitist attitudes within management.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Good infrastructure, good network, the best software development tools, some very smart engineers, currently profitable, part of Boeing

Cons – The market is becoming competitive, bad decisions at the directors level have dug a hole that will take management 5 years to get out of if they take corrective action now (replace all directors) and less than 3 years before the competition drives down profits. In airline industry speak, they will run out of runway before they can takeoff. 20-30% reduction in workforce in the next 3 years.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on the software development area, it is the future of this company. Use actual software development practices and standards IEEE, ISO, and CMMI. Don't reinvent a process, use an established and effective one and only one for all projects. Discipline knowledge over domain knowledge in the software development lifecycle. Pilots are good at flying planes, not developing software. Pilot/business involvement needs to begin and end at the requirement definition phase then let professional and experienced software engineers do what they are good at doing.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than a year

Pros – Its was a loyal company, good benifits,

Cons – there's Employment cuttnig, less now, poor magement

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Jeppesen has some very talented, hard working and loyal employees who have contributed greatly to their past success. Also, the corporate office is in Englewood, CO.

Cons – Strong leadership and innovation at the Director level for the most part is non-existent. Directors are more concern about protecting their turf, giving excuses and kissing up to VPs than helping their staff succeed at meeting business goals. Jeppesen talks about being responsive to customers and market needs but their actions do not follow and Directors are not held accountable to produce. If you are able to effectively "spin" and excuse poor or non-performance, you have a great shot at becoming a Director or higher within Jeppesen.

Advice to Senior Management – When you restructure again (which seems to happens every 18-24 months), bring in new Directors and hold them accountable to what they say they are going to deliver.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Always interesting work and good people to work with. Most employees are focused on providing the best products to their customers. Development teams and delivery teams continue to make the effort to go the extra mile to get a good product out the door.

Cons – Chaos in the management areas where senior management is trying to implement more cohesive practices. They seem to understand the concepts but not how to implement them. Director levels and some Senior Manager levels seem to be in the 'rotating door' syndrome where processes and practices continue to change every time a management change occurs. Needs more stability.

Advice to Senior Management – Separate the processes and practices used to manage development projects from the Directors that control the groups using them. Every time a new Director comes in, the development teams are forced to change to the new Director's favorite processes and practices.

Also, don't allow Directors to manage their teams remotely. We lost a lot of capability because the Director didn't know our needs and culture.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Some very smart talent, but few and far between

Cons – Good 'ole boy network. If you don't go to the same church forget it.

Advice to Senior Management – Get a real job

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Aviation is an interesting (if unstable field). Some really cool people to work with, especially some of the "old timers." Office is decent and the cafeteria is better than most office food courts.

Cons – Your ideas will be poo-pooed then co-opted a year later with someone else taking the credit. Many managers are clueless as to what their team is doing and cannot support them properly. In the four years I was there, I had four different managers, even though I never moved positions or teams. Any criticism is viewed as insubordination and will not be tolerated.

Advice to Senior Management – Crack down on idea-stealing and back-biting. Learn how to prepare for the future, rather than just reacting to events. Allow for constructive criticism.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Jeppesen Sanderson full-time for less than a year

Pros – Colorado has great weather. Jeppesen office is located where it is easy to access the highway. They also had a very nice cafe' that served fresh, healthy food at a very reasonable price.

Cons – The list is long. The department is very poorly managed; there is no leadership. The turnover in the department is extremely high - the environment is hostile and does not function like a dispatch operation. Sadly, the manager, supervisors and trainer have minimal technical skills yet they each seem to regard themselves as experts. They placed no emphasis on customer service (frequently bad-mouthing the customer in private) and the push was quantity rather than quality. I quickly moved on like many others before and after me.

Advice to Senior Management – It's expensive to hire people -- it might be a good idea to look at the turnover in this department and compare it to other companies who provide the same service. Most are much more stable. Look at management to find the answer for the high turnover. It might also help to give the dispatch manager, supervisors and trainer training in FAA regulations as well as customer service (especially this since they, the customer, pay the bills).

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend