Lockheed Martin Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

It's a good place to get some experience for your resume. If you're interested in the defense industry, this is the largest contractor in the world.

Cons

Pay quickly falls behind the rest of the industry (if you're an entry-level hire).

Management is often dishonest, at least at this site. Ethics are a joke. The best quote I got was from a functional when asked about doing something other than paperwork security tasks. His response was "we don't do that [my field of expertise] here..." I found a new job a few weeks later and submitted notice. Despite the acknowledgment, they're confused as to why I'm leaving.

When I came here 2 years ago, this site (King of Prussia / Valley Forge) had over 12,000 employees on the campus. Last month it was revealed that there are about 3,500. This site is being starved to death (i.e., if you aren't in VA, CO, or CA, you don't really matter).

Advice to Senior Management

You aren't experts at everything, so instead of pretending that you are, try listening to the people you hired. They might actually know something you don't.

Be honest during the hiring process. Being dishonest and expecting the employee to "try something else" is a quick way to turn them off to the company (because you've already lost their trust).

Listen to your employees, and at least feign that you care. Despite the current economic conditions, the talented can always find a job. Love 'em or lose 'em... the choice is your' s.

Pros

Great opporunity to really make an impact on the program you're supporting.

Cons

Sometimes layers of management can get in the way of getting things done quickly.

Advice to Senior Management

Delegate where it makes sense and try to eliminate unncessary layers of management

Pros

National Pride, high-tech applications, good pay and great benefits. Good people and managers. Paid overtime, interesting assignments

Cons

Lots of hours. needs better senior management communication. Individuals are promoted and have career growth, but this breaks up good teams with experience, leaving the less experienced teams to work projects

Advice to Senior Management

More communication, insight into business strategy and outlook

Pros

Lockheed Martin provides me with a flexible work schedule so that I can take care of my work and family and feel good about doing both. They also pay for the majority of the Health Benefits that we receive. And since most of the work is for the government, I feel like I am contributing to the security of the United States while having the opportunity to work on very interesting things. There are also a lot of outside activities sponsored by the company, including golf leagues, tennis leagues, tutoring in schools, bike-a-thons, blood drives, etc.

Cons

Due to the deadlines that we work to, this can be a stressful job if you can't separate your work life from your home life.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize people at all levels for what they are doing, not just the ones tooting their own horn.

Pros

Stable company, competive salaries, recognition for a job well done.

Cons

Have been overworked, expected to work outside normal working hours on a regular basis.

Advice to Senior Management

keep it up

Pros

Decent Pay, relaxed hours, life work balance

Cons

This is not a company for career growth. Get your 5 years of experience and find an exit strategy. Functional Management's main goal is to keep labor cost low.

Advice to Senior Management

PRS is not working. The difference in annual salary based on performance between 1 and 2 is at most 2-3% but the effort put in to get a 1 vs a 2 can be as large as 60 hours per week vs 45 hours per week.

Pros

Good pay, interesting work, excellent benefits

Cons

Many employees get pigeon-holed into positions with no chance for innovation or growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop grabbing on to every new buzzword philosophy and get down to the core of what we are and what we do. Leverage those skills better across mulltiple business areas.

Pros

Lockheed offers a stable job with decent benefits. If you do the right things there are opportunities to advance up the ladder.

Cons

Lockheed tends to be a decade behind the commercial world in terms of processes and technologies used. I find that the good software engineers are quickly pushed up the chain -- leaving almost no seasoned developers at the lower levels. Many people being pushed up don't want to leave the code, however advancement opportunities quickly dry up as a developer as Lockeed prefers to just throw warm bodies in those positions. Those ranks tend to be filled with either level one/two (newer coder) developers or higher level developers that haven't coded for a long time that have the urge to do so again.

Overall this leads to anyone who actually cares about developing their skills as an engineer (TDD, core patterns, etc) with no one to really go look up to improve their skills.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop being so management-heavy, keep experienced developers in the code.

Pros

Some very interesting projects to work on. Secure job

Cons

High performers are not recognized

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize performance

Pros

The pay here is above average, the type of work available is very diverse and the available work locations is a plus. For example if you work in NE region and you want to work in the West region there are several LM sites in that area. Also, in the Metro DC area there are plenty of opportunities there as well. There are also several overseas locations as well such as the UK and Aus. Great place for new college grads to get experience they will pay for your

Cons

Management is often disconnect from staff. No bonuses or profit sharing for staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Have middle-management pay more attention to staff needs.