Lockheed Martin Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Strong company, solid finances, global company

Cons

Might get lost it's so big.

Advice to Senior Management

Review new technologies

Pros

You can find very interesting work if you have a clearance and find a good program to work. Flex time is exceptional... people can usually define their work schedule as they see fit, and managers generally don't have a problem even with oddball schedules. You can come in at 6 AM one day, and 11 AM the next, and most won't blink an eye as long as you let people who depend on your work know a day or two in advance. Pay is competitive, although don't count on ever seeing a bonus unless you're in senior program management. Tuition reimbursement is excellent, although PhD programs are generally not covered.

Cons

Career advancement is difficult. In-line promotions (getting promoted while working the same program/contract) is rarely accomplished. Most of the time, one has to move to a different program/contract to be able to negotiate a promotion. Additionally, because of the nature of government contracting, one can find themself without work very quickly if the program funding gets cut or delayed. You will likely be able to stay employed for awhile, but if too many programs get cut and too many people don't have work, you risk getting laid off. Sometimes you have to stick around on a stable, but less interesting program/contract in order to get through tougher times. Only one health plan to choose from, although that seems to be happening at other companies these days as well.

Advice to Senior Management

Be much more aggressive about promoting younger talent (not just the golden boys who participate in BS leadership programs). There are lots of excellent engineers who are 3-6 years out of college that would like to stay at Lockheed, but can't get promoted so they leave to go to other companies. This creates a gap in talent among senior engineers... which are composed of those who wanted to stick through that 3-6 year doldrum. Sometimes excellent engineers stick around, but sometimes those who are mediocre and just "played the game" with management end up in these senior roles.

Pros

Opportunities for growth
Salary
Flexible work hours

Cons

Government contracts come and go

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing.

Pros

Good benefits; strong job stability; employees are treated professionally by management; large company with lots of opportunities and lots to work on; at my facility salary increases are consistent and above inflation; excellent tuition reimbursement program

Cons

Lockheed is an engineering company, but very often it seems like "engineering" is an afterthought. If you are a software person, be prepared to have hundreds of poorly documented code modules thrown at you along with processes you just sort of have to figure out on your own. HR is, for some reason, violently opposed to technical training, meaning that engineers are often shoved in front of a console and told to "sink or swim". (Six Sigma, etc., training is easy to get.) Other people have pointed this out, but the smart fresh-out-of-college engineers are told early on that they need to get into program management/finance in order to move up in the company. In short, there is simply not a culture of engineering excellence at my facility, and there are smarter and more committed people elsewhere in industry.

Advice to Senior Management

Every site should have regular technical training and forums so that engineers should share information. The tuition reimbursement plan is not enough to cultivate great employees.

Pros

Good salary and benefits. Work/life balance is great.

Cons

In KOP area not much work available, plenty of work in the DC area.

Advice to Senior Management

Lead by example.

Pros

Great pay, good benefits, good people, a lot of support, company has the best of intentions, wants to do the right thing, very ethical, very people oriented.

Cons

Too much focus on pushing young people into management, creates a void of opportunities for middle age employees. HR seems to have too much influence overall.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not let hiring managers feel even a little bit pressured to hire an LDP candidate over more qualified non-LDP candidates. Company is on its way to creating a huge experience gap in senior management.

Pros

Feeling of pride that your job is supporting the Country
Great people
You can advance your career fairly easily if you are aggressive / work hard.

Cons

Their new health benefits are disappointing...
Fewer technical opportunities to advance than non-technical.

Advice to Senior Management

I'm truly disappointed that I have to consider looking outside the company to advance my career, and to receive better benefits...

Pros

flex time. fairly steady word.

Cons

not forward thinking at all. very much good ol boy system and policies in place. impenetrable as far as inclusion.

Advice to Senior Management

diversity is needed throughout. all one has to do is look at the faces of leadership

Pros

Good People. Competitive benefits like most large companies. There is an engineering union called ASPEP that gets a higher raise for their employees and some additional benefits. Like I said, the benefits are not the bestest but just competitive with other large corporations except for the added union benefits. There is flexible work schedules that can be negotiated with your management. Pleasant work environment. Work is diverse. I think career advancement must be an obsession for the employee if one wants to advance in the company. It will not be given and there are maturity rules and requirements to get promoted in the union for engineers.

Cons

Focus is on full spectrum leadership throughout the ranks. Senior management emphasizes diversity, but the makeup of the departments show clearly that minorities have a glass ceiling. Their technical director group all comprise of white males and females - There is almost no chance of a minority getting a position in this group. Some of my friends have tried but were turned away because of maturity reasons. There are many minorities at the team lead level, and some at FLM level. Not sure why this is the case, just based on observations. No Asian minorities at the senior management level. This company also has a bias with military academy graduates as oppose to civilian college graduates in management positions. All AEGIS related work only.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel that management has too many people under them to provide quality management to their employees. They must rework this. Also the matrix type atmosphere where project and functional management crosses makes it difficult to rate people fairly. Management appears to always want to make you an average worker to fit in to their raise and rating metrics at review time. They nned to simplify the rating process.

Pros

Fantastic Leadership Development Program for new hires.

Cons

It is extremely difficult to be promoted if you are mid-level. It is extremely political, and if you are not a member of the right "clique" you will not be promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Investing in new hires is great, however you also need to invest in those individuals who have some experience under their belts and will be most appropriate to assume those management positions in the next five years as your Boomers continue to retire. Do you really want a person with only five years experience in the company running things? USE YOUR HEAD!!!