Pros
Hopefully this is found helpful, as some Glassdoor reviews are entirely too brief. Field Service Engineers/Field Service Technicians are the same role. Internally, everyone in the Field is a Field Service Engineer in title. I am not sure why the recent change in job postings flip flop between either description. Company vehicle (F-150) is provided and can be used for personal use which is nice. I switched from a two car household down to a one car and use my Truck for errands, kid drop offs/pickups etc.. Because of how Instron lists the vehicles and some type of IRS regulation with company vehicles that are allowed personal use, the first and last 30 minutes of each day are considered "commuting time" and are unpaid. Field Engineer's work from their homes and travel to different customer locations everyday, so this commuting time is accounted for in daily time reporting. A small price to pay in my opinion and situation, however it could be listed as a con for some individuals. Training is provided and mandatory regardless of background with Instron/Similar products, even if you lack relative calibration/maintenance experience you are given the proper support before going in front of customers. Training is mandatory due to quality regulations Instron abides by. Three Week standard vacation at hire, 4 weeks after 5 years. Sick days used to be unlimited, however, recently it has changed to 5 days. This is a bit of a grey area now as above 5 days basically needs to be reviewed on a case by case basis due to Instron's parent company regulations. Hours are set by you and appointments with customers. Work 40 hours in 3-4 days, have a three day weekend. Start at 10/11AM, not an issue depending on the customer for the day. Work is dispatched to you to schedule on your own terms within a customers need to have equipment worked on. Typically, machine calibration intervals are on a yearly basis. Pay and Raises have been good in my experience. I requested and got the hourly rate I wanted at onboarding. Raises are always hit or miss depending on the person leaving the review obviously, mine have typically been above 3%. They are based on performance and different metrics that are measured on a yearly basis, customer surveys, quality records, etc.. Flight/Hotel bookings are done by you. I've scheduled work over spring break and had my wife/kids stay at my hotel reservation while working. You're issued an AMEX to use for expenses and do the standard monthly expense reports. Meal allowance per day is pretty good, around $80-$100 I believe. People starting out in the Field have advanced into Management positions, Technical Support, Application Engineering so there is advancement opportunities. Some may require relocation to the Boston area as that is home base for Instron in the US. Some Tech Support and Field Management positions are remote however.
Cons
Travel requirements are highly dependent on the area. I am in the Midwest, typically I could be gone anywhere from 4 nights - 8 nights a month. Some months are less, some are more. Typical requirements are if one way travel is more than 2.5 hours one way, a hotel stay is preferred. This is a case by case basis however and could be dependent on your manager. Its up to you to schedule work, there is no outside coordinator dictating your days. Being highly communicative with your fellow employees and manager is critical in making sure you can keep jobs booked, typically 2 weeks out at anyone time. Every Instron Field Engineer gets trained in the basic product line, however, staying busy means learning different disciplines is usually required. Instron does training courses on a number of their different product lines so its up to you to work with your Manager and identify what is most prevalent in your geographical location so you can get trained to make sure you can stay busy. In the event that work is just slow, typically there is options to travel/fly well outside your service region to work for a cover different areas of the US. I have done week long stints in Oregon/Washington, North Carolina, Kentucky, etc.. This is typically something that needs to be planned in advance however and not last minute, which means being motivated and up to date on your own personal schedule and what you have going on and what holes you need to fill. I have never not gotten 40 hours a week working in the Field. I know there are other reviews listing this as a problem, a lot of the time however it comes down to your own time management. I don't necessarily feel the self scheduling is a con, however I felt a detail description was necessary as its been listed as a negative by several reviews I've read. The midwest/automotive centric areas are definitely dead during the Christmas timeframe. Talk to your coworkers and try to find out how your work region operates and when work is plentiful or slim so you can plan extended US travel work or vacation appropriately.