United Space Alliance Reviews in Houston, TX Area

Pros

Working for a company plugged into the space progam gave me a sense of worthiness. I worked along side high caliber proffessionals dedicated to their jobs and more importantly dedicated to the advancement of the human condition. My experience was unique in that it challenged me on every level that I considered a personal weakness. This allowed me to grow proffessionally and add value to my self. This company offered a very generous severance package. It was fair in it's assessment of employees during personal evaluations. The training was superb. There was a variety of classes available to allow one to grow their proffessional skills. They offered a competetive benefits package and vacation time was acceptable.

Cons

Salary was not as competetive with the private industry.Company was inexperienced when bidding on new contracts from NASA resulting in great loss in potential revenue.

Pros

People and friends/coworkers were completely committed; Being part of the space program; Work goals and contribution to national pride were inspiring; Self-Satisfaction was high; Compensation average, but benefits were better than most others.

Cons

It was strictly "butts in seats" work, with little vision on expansion, new markets, new capabilities. Company was structured closely around NASA organizations, which works well for NASA but not other customers. Financial structure was optimized for work with NASA and inflexible toward new work. USA hamstrung by parent companies and "locked into" specific work and restricted from other work. USA was designed to do one thing and it did it well and was not permitted or able to do adapt. Management team was often afraid to share bad news with employees and customers alike, for fear of employees leaving and a bad performance score from customers.

Advice to Senior Management

If you can't overcome the parent companies, take pride in what you did for many years and help your people transition to other work. Communicate everything - ahead of time and not after the fact. Your people deserve to know what is happening when it is happening.

Pros

Good benefits even after cost increases
Flexible hours with compensated time option
Very good recognition by management
Rewarding job in space industry

Cons

Opportunities for career advancement are more and more limited as the company shrinks.
Likelihood of company going away and being absorbed by member companies leads to career uncertainty
Salary increases and promotions are not as robust as they once were.

Advice to Senior Management

Clarify the future of the company as soon as possible and move forward quickly.

Pros

Co-workers were great and very supportive - very much like a family. If you are in management, you will be taken care of.

Cons

Management is generally unresponsive and not forthcoming about situations regarding the status of the company and it's future - particularly mid to upper level management.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more open with the employees and let them know what is really going on and not some version of that PR type "positive spin". Work on improving the perception of how you are viewed by your employees; what few employees are left are there out of their sense of duty to the program and should be afforded more respect than they get.

Pros

USA was the right company to run the Space Shuttle Program, given the amount of program experience the employees had and the maturity of the program, as well as the overall duplication
of missions to the ISS. The company did a great job in taking care of the large number of employees that, due to program cancellation, were laid-off.

Cons

USA would have been an even better company if the management had been reduced - in most cases it was not required, caused unnecessary delays, and ran on egos that inserted a negative energy into a professional and competent organization. Hopefully this is one of many lessons that were learned - more management does not result in more efficiency and improvement.

Advice to Senior Management

I would have loved to see a bold management team that would have leveled the organization, and moved out of the way for the very experienced team of professionals to do the job they skilled at.
In general, USA line management was minimal in value-add. I don't understand why they thought they were necessary, for the large part.

Pros

Unique and rewarding work, with some of the best people you could ever work with and for. Having a hand in operating America's fleet of Space Shuttles and the International Space Station provides inspirational work and you know you have a direct impact on the success of the company.

Cons

The uncertain nature of the future of the space program means there are some concerns with job stability. Once we know more about the direction the future of the space program will take, then it should be more stable.

Pros

They are very good to their interns and give them many opportunities to learn new skill sets and gain professional experience. Seeing the inner works of space operations and working with some of the people that make space exploration happen was a life-changing experience that I am forever grateful for and will always look back on proudly!

Cons

Seeing all of the people get laid off when NASA's budget was cut, and seeing the Shuttle Program come to an end.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the NASA co-op and internship program alive and thriving!

Pros

The people at United Space Alliance are fantastic. I can honestly say that I don't know of a more committed group of people. The past year has been tough (layoffs, end of the Shuttle Program), but the spirit of the workforce remains strong. It is really remarkable. Additionally, the work itself stretches you as a professional and as a human being. You can grow in many ways if you are willing to SEE the opportunities in front of you.

Cons

It has been an extremely tough year. The stress has been tremendous. The entire aerospace industry is unstable, and our member companies (Boeing and Lockheed) aren't helping us much.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep Communicating. Be as transparent as possible!

Pros

The best part about working there is being able to work with astronauts and knowing I was contributing to the AMERICAN space program.

Cons

Advancement opportunities were few and far between. Once you proved competence in a job you were stuck there. Management actually sabotaged my transfer attempts.
When the shuttle program was ending, management was more worried about transitioning the ISS employees to Constellation than with transitioning Shuttle personnel.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't lie to the employees under you. Don't hinder their careers for your own gains.
The only communication with UPPER (executive) management was occasional emails we received. There was no effective way to communicate up the chain.

Pros

Really enjoyed working there. Nice people, good communication with management. Was happy with the projects we accomplished in working toward successful safe space missions.

Cons

Very poor pay comparison to outside the government contractor arena. Found out severely underpaid when time came to leave for new pastures.

Advice to Senior Management

Very impressed with way management kept employees informed toward end of program. Need to remember the lessons about what happened the last time there was brain drain in the space industry. You are loosing alot of people that now KNOW they are severely underpaid and it will be very hard to get them to come back in a couple of years.