Orbital Sciences Reviews

Pros

Extremely supportive in the non-work aspect of an employees life. Great benefits, great compensation and the flexibility in work hours is amazing.

Cons

The number of IT (IS as Orbital calls it) security programs with overlapping functions on both work computers and corporate servers is cumbersome. Computer replacement cycle is slow and exacerbated by purchasing of overpowered and overpriced machines.

Advice to Senior Management

Crate a charge number for impedance due to IT and reduce the IT Senior Vice President's bonus by the amount of lost time in the rest of the company. This creates motivation to maintain a lean IT organisation and lean corporation.

Pros

We are actually creating a product that improves our lives, keeps our troops safe and aids in scientific discoveries. It is a wonderful feeling to know that as a company we make a difference every day.

Cons

Working between the different divisions is more difficult than it needs to be. It is driven not just by accounting divisions, but by lack of cohesiveness between the organizations.

Advice to Senior Management

A strong push needs to be made by management to bring the different divisions together, especially to make it easier for employees to support multiple divisions. We have a great pool of people, and we need to use them more effectively.

Pros

If you want to blend in, put in your work day and leave with a paycheck this is a great place to work. Lots of intelligent people to work with. An excellent place to start a career, within the industry Orbital has good resume recognition.

Cons

Poor management keeps company from really shining. Programs suffer greatly due to negligent and wasteful management structure.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce labor squabbling between departments.

Pros

It's a highly technical environment where one can learn a great deal in certain business areas and divisions.

Cons

Some divisions or business units can be somewhat compartmentalized where one may be restricted to gain additional technical knowledge.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend furthering areas of advancement to personnel & outlining in detail how one would achieve reaching those opportunities.

Pros

Orbital has excellent benefits and a good 401K plan. The best thing about Orbital is the ability to move around the departments and gain a breadth of experience. Some managers understand that employees want to try new things or broaden their horizons and support those endeavors wholeheartedly.

Cons

Management has little to no clue about the definition of effective communication. Every January through March, communication will begin to look up after the yearly reviews come in and managers are reminded to "break bread with the troops" but will quickly dissolve come summer and disappear by winter. Process and procedure are key at Orbital, much like any other space industry company. For a small company on the verge of becoming big, cost and schedule are king.

Advice to Senior Management

Try talking to your employees and truly trying to understand everyday issues and barriers rather than wasting valuable time and money with reports that are regularly falsified and "gamed," in order to keep you off our backs.

Pros

- Interesting work, interesting product
- Opportunities to move between different positions and groups
- Pretty good salary and benefits
- Lots of smart people

Cons

- Management takes a hands off approach
- Stressful, long hours, irregular schedule
- Lack of communication between different groups within the company
- Much of the practical knowledge required to do the job is up to you to acquire. Specialized training to use software/hardware is minimal, you to learn by asking the right people lots of questions

Advice to Senior Management

Check in with your employees more often, organize specialized, high-level training programs within engineering groups to teach employees specific skills and SW/HW tools

Pros

Great people; extremely interesting work; employee focused culture; a company with a real future within the aerospace industry

Cons

occassional long hours; not always easy to maintain healthy work/life balance

Advice to Senior Management

To continue to nurture the current culture even during a time that the company continues to grow. Dont lose what is good about the company as the company continues to grow.

Pros

Pay is decent
Hours are flex, and they support educational goals
The 15 min of a vehicle launch is very satisfying/scary
Team and project migration is possible, but sometimes needed due to project terminations
More responsibility is added as you go, slows the boredom
Some management is very sharp and good to work with, even an honor.
Met an Astronaut, does it get any cooler?
A sea of tasit knowledge, some of elder engineers built/designed the technology you will be working with, so you can ask questions directly. Handy.

Cons

Paper, paper, paper, stamps, paper - very 1950's MO
Process change is like pulling teeth, improvements are slow and often blocked
Specs are enforced so long as they do not cost money, gives a pointless feel to the rational
Some management have trouble adapting to the Orbital way, and it falls on the subs.
Lotus notes, ms paint, ie6
manuals are the way OSC runs, and they are written in random pain in the romp methods with correction after correction.

Advice to Senior Management

Process change could happen quicker, and the paper seems like such a waste.
Depart collaboration could be better.

Pros

Orbital provides a great environment in which to work and learn. The employees seemed excited with the company and liked being there. The company has a diverse portfolio of work (Science & Environmental Satellites, Commercial GEO Comm Satellites, Launch Vehicles, Human Spaceflight) that allows a broad range of experience. Interns are treated very well and paid nicely in comparison with other aerospace firms.

Cons

As an intern, there will always be periods of downtime when you don't feel very useful. This is understandable, but it would be nice if there was a plan in place to avoid some of that. Additionally, the company does seem to suffer from the "What's the charge number?" problem common to defense firms and government contractors; this may contribute to a myopic view of future development, as innovation and transformation don't usually have a charge number.

Advice to Senior Management

Seek to push innovation and company transformation through incentives and scheduled time, so that the company does not become stuck in churning out the same products for 50 years.

Pros

* Great Culture & Atmosphere

Cons

* Long Hours depending on the area of work you specify in