L-3 Communications Reviews

Pros

Rewarding, learning, stable, professional environment

Cons

Favoritism, not much room for career advancement

Advice to Senior Management

Favoritism

Pros

Friendly people. Laid back environment. Holidays off

Cons

health benefits are not great. Insurance is expensive and does not cover a lot.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer training to employees.

Pros

Company name, company size, company reputation.

Cons

Even though L-3 claimed in their benefits package that they would reimburse tuition, after this employee had successfully completed 6 courses ($6K), L-3 decided that they were no longer reimbursing tuition. Note: I am not a relative of a regional manager.

Pros

Compensation is top-notch. The health benefits are good but the personal time off could use some help. All employees are given 3 weeks paid vacation. The work schedule is flexible, allowing 4-10 or a 9-80 schedule.

Cons

While growth seems to be consistent, the threats of government cutbacks in government spending always looms overhead. L-3 is diversified enough in their portfolio that they should be able to compensate for those cutbacks by selling items to the public sector. The IT organization is relatively small, compared to other organizations and, therefore, a little unorganized because of the explosive growth they have experienced of late. This can be trying because of the lack of tried and true processes in day-to-day IT life.

Advice to Senior Management

The need for managers with greater skill and understanding is needed. A manager should be up-to-date on current technologies and not laden with old mentalities and processes.

Pros

Great low-level engineering work.
Lot of intelligent people, very resourceful

Cons

My pay was average. The company didn't seem too secure, as far as sustainable business/contracts.

Pros

Compensation and benefits were what you'd expect from a top tier company. The 5 day - 4 day - two week schedule was really great (8am - 6pm for 9 work days, and alternating Fridays off). All of the people I had the pleasure of working with were very supportive and friendly and seemed happy being there for a long time.

Cons

Very workstation/desk oriented. Like any large company things move slow and that can be a bit frustrating. Military contractors come with certain territory and company values you have to align with your own.

Advice to Senior Management

A lot of internal technical issues could be solved with an overhaul of the IT structure and maybe some new faces.

Pros

A wealth of knowledge, inviting people, a hands on work environment.

Cons

Sometimes you could feel lost inside of the big company feel.

Advice to Senior Management

Revamp the efforts of the marketing team to make the website better and the public more aware.

Pros

Very relaxed work environment, while still maintaining professionalism. The HR staff and the management are both very approachable and helpful.

Cons

Because it is located in Houston, L3 is mainly government contracted, so a lot of the work there is dependent on whether or not funding has been received. Sometimes it feels like your work has gone to waste if funding is cancelled.

Pros

They give free training and you get paid for it. There was never nothing to do so if your building didn't have a contract for you to work on they would find something for you to do, rather than send you home.

Cons

You had to be at work extra early so that you would have enough time to get to your building because it was so big.

Pros

Great Benefits (medical, tuition reimbursement, 401k, etc.)
Rewarding company mission
Ability to career change within the company
Many opportunities for career advancement

Cons

Long hours
Hard to earn a promotion-more about networking and relationships
Very competitive
Work/Life Balance doesn't really exist for most employees