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    General Atomics Reviews

    Updated July 24, 2017
    501 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.6
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    General Atomics Chairman and CEO Neal Blue
    Neal Blue
    183 Ratings

    501 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • 9/80 work schedule, 7% pension, 401K match and very reasonable health benefits (in 67 reviews)

    • 9/80 work schedule for most departments, Flexible working condition (in 30 reviews)

    Cons
    More Pros and Cons

    1. Helpful (5)

      "Change the status quo"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Production Supervisor in Poway, CA
      Current Employee - Production Supervisor in Poway, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Benefits are good, infrastucture is good and getting better.

      Cons

      Demographic balance is appalling. The level of basic educational knowledge and the abilities of many employees should be questioned. Manufacturing aeronautical structures requires fundamental skills that are not present due to the following: English is not the primary language of the workforce. If you can't speak or read in English, how do you interpret blueprints or understand engineering concepts? Training would be a good answer if you understood English. There are few lead personnel who are bilingual, yet do not fully comprehend what is involved in building a composite aircraft structure. There are numerous production personnel who can't read a label/direction/or use a gram scale to mix materials in accordance with manufacturer or GA instruction. The ignorance and unwillingness to change is a problem. Eliminate these problems and your productivity will excel. The aforementioned causes the greater percentage of quality defects that occur on a daily basis.

      Advice to Management

      Management is the problem. If you are hiring people because of ethnicity and not skill, face the eventual problems that will occur.

    2. "Engineering Manufacturing Liaison"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Engineering Manufacturing Liaison in Poway, CA
      Current Employee - Engineering Manufacturing Liaison in Poway, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      AWESOME place to work!!!

      Cons

      So far none. I love to come to work

      3. Join the General Atomics team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Technical writer 2"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Technical Writer/Editor in Poway, CA
      Current Employee - Technical Writer/Editor in Poway, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Good advancement, growing company, fast paced.

      Cons

      Fast paced, in North county...I 15 traffic.

    4. "Manufacturing Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time

      Pros

      Lots of opportunity to move around within the company and work on all sorts of different projects and within different engineering disciplines.

      Cons

      Same problems with all large companies. Very difficult to get simple things done due to need for multiple approvals.

      Advice to Management

      Keep everything as simple as possible while maintaining quality.

    5. "Great company overall"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics part-time

      Pros

      Everyone usually gets along, great teams to work for and easy to move around the company if you're looking to get different experiences.

      Cons

      Pay and retention of good people

      Advice to Management

      Empathy. Empathy towards everyone and to those who you are effecting and working with. Grow the empathy towards your people and customers and you will see a better team environment.

    6. Helpful (2)

      "Great company culture and work-life balance."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Systems Engineer in San Diego, CA
      Current Employee - Senior Systems Engineer in San Diego, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Easy-going company culture, great place to be. Pay is competitive and they're good about raises if you're below industry standard. They want to retain talent. Accommodating of family emergencies, surprises, and allow you to move around schedule.

      Cons

      HR is slow with process. Very siloed on their technical aspects.

      General Atomics Response

      Jul 3, 2017 – Systems Administrator

      Thank you for taking the time to leave your review about your experience with General Atomics and affiliated companies

    7. "Design Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Upward growth potential in expanding market and expanding company, private company, vertical integration

      Cons

      Expectation to do great things with limited resources, still systematizing processes and training

      General Atomics Response

      Jul 3, 2017 – Systems Administrator

      Thank you for taking the time to leave your review about your experience with General Atomics and affiliated companies

    8. Helpful (3)

      "Exciting projects, limited career growth opportunities"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Engineer IV in Poway, CA
      Current Employee - Engineer IV in Poway, CA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      9/80 schedule, good benefits, flexible work environment. Plant/ facility Locations are desirable. Interesting products and improvements being made to streamline and increase efficiency.

      Cons

      Limited career growth, gender gap and limited growth potential for women and minority's. Company tends to focus on outdated Manament styles which leads to missed opportunities to tap into new ideas and provide career expansion.

      Advice to Management

      Get to know your managers and supervisors, mingle with the worker bees by allowing confidential feedback every 3 to 6 months. Stop playing favorites (Manament and HR) and close the gender pay gap for women and minority's

    9. Helpful (2)

      "Engineer III. Pretty good overall."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Engineer III in Poway, CA
      Former Employee - Engineer III in Poway, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at General Atomics full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Good pay and benefits. Facilities are nice. Location in Poway is nice. Management seemed fine for the most part. Work pace is nice. Variety of work was nice.

      Cons

      Communication between departments was utterly missing. People were too reluctant or non responsive to help you on a project if their boss didn't approve of a Job Number first. Even a couple easy questions. So i was basically on my own for several projects where I wasn't a subject matter expert. Very weird isolation.

    10. Helpful (1)

      "Stability and Growth - GA Exemplified"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Manager in San Diego, CA
      Current Employee - Manager in San Diego, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at General Atomics full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      An incredibly stable employer, with ZERO history of layoffs. Continuous growth as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (drone) market continues to expand worldwide. Steady leadership at the upper echelons. Solid business model.

      Cons

      Continuous growth results in continuous growing pains. Not the top salary in the industry. Often outgrows infrastructure.

      Advice to Management

      PLAN growth, don't just experience it! Being proactive beats being reactive every time.

      General Atomics Response

      Jul 3, 2017 – Systems Administrator

      Thank you for taking the time to leave your review about your experience with General Atomics and affiliated companies. We appreciate your feedback.

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