Company going through growing pains - Systems and Project Engineer General Atomics Employee Review

4.0
Aug 22, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

ASI is very technically focused, so it's good if you are or aspire to be very technically savvy. Work life balance is good, but each group does things differently based on the managers. Most people work limited overtime, I would say about 40 - 50 hours per week. There is extended work week program, which is voluntary paid overtime for about 2-3 months every year towards holiday time. It has also started with its 9/80 schedule, which is common in government work. 9/80 is working 80 hours in 9 days so you have every other Friday off. ASI also still has pension benefit, which is becoming more rare.

Cons

Areas outside of engineering are in the growing stage, and not very organized. For example, finance, purchasing, etc are not as structured as other companies I have worked for. Management and organization is still catching up with recent size growth. There are a lot of confusion in terms of roles and responsibilities, as well as authority of each manager. Each department does things very differently, which makes intracompany moves more difficult. The company has very informal communication, so if you are new it takes effort to tap into the information circle. Being a private company, management is a black box and decisions are not well explained.

Explore other reviews about General Atomics

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good work life balance

Cons

9 hour shifts 4 days a week

4.0
Jul 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good working environment Exciting projects Great coworkers (for the most part, like any place)

Cons

Like any maturing company, it has become more and more top-heavy, placing more and more emphasis on project management and milestones, sometimes over bread-and-butter engineering. I could have half the PMs I have now and do a better job

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