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    General Atomics Reviews

    Updated February 19, 2019
    656 reviews

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    3.7
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    General Atomics Chairman and CEO Neal Blue
    Neal Blue
    271 Ratings

    Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "Good benefits, 9/80 work schedule, low stress environment" (in 86 reviews)

    • "9/80 work schedule, flexible core hours" (in 42 reviews)

    Cons

    • "Excessive travel has strained work/life balance" (in 13 reviews)

    • "theres just no room for growth, not a learning environment" (in 9 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Progressive company working on important issues that make a difference."

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

      Pros

      Great people to work with and responsive management. Good growth potential.

      Cons

      None to speak of right now.

      Advice to Management

      Keep doing what you're doing.

    2. Helpful (2)

      "Visionary Leadership, A place you can make a real difference"

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

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

      Pros

      Visionary Leadership, Rapid Growth, Privately Held (long term focus), Make a difference quickly, Family friendly work/life balance

      Cons

      Assimilation of new people dependent on who your manager is, Rapid growth and dynamic environment is not for everyone

      Advice to Management

      Job description "years of experience" should be guidelines, not strict requirements, so you can account for superstars (who are the future leaders); if you hold them back, they'll go elsewhere.

      3. Join the General Atomics team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Good going once adopted to the culture"

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

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

      Pros

      Interesting and new challenges across diverse areas. Upward potential consistent with a relatively new company if the employee is motivated and willing to work

      Cons

      The culture shift from typical aerospace and the individual politics are complicated and can often limit productivity.

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Good old boys"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Project Manager in Poway, CA
      Former Employee - Project Manager in Poway, CA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at General Atomics full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Pension
      Vacation
      Product
      9/80 schedule
      No desire to lay-off

      Cons

      Buddy network
      No upward ability
      Poor management
      Lack of management knowledge
      Middle managers managing nothing
      Work environment
      Compensation increase/promotions are nonexistent

      Advice to Management

      Hire from the industry (civilian experienced) not straight out the military. Treat people with respect not military mentality. Promote and reward the true top performers not your buddy from the military. Learn strategy to win competitive contracts. Treat this as a business with intentions to succeed.

    5. "excellent privately held company"

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

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

      Pros

      Great company for engineers

      Cons

      Uneven level of policies due to small company history and leaders from
      multitude of other companies.

      Needs to stay more like skunkworks less like big corporations

      Advice to Management

      Stay independent

    6. Helpful (1)

      "A government contractor with zero plan of progress"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      Pros

      401k, pension. Lots of free time to do nothing!

      Cons

      Zero respect to employees. No chance of progress!

      Advice to Management

      Yeah, you count heads to charge goverment. But without smart engineers you won't deliver!

    7. "Easy work, Good visibility, Very mundane/not technical"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Flight Test Engineer
      Former Employee - Flight Test Engineer
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at General Atomics full-time

      Pros

      Easy, Laid-back, no micromanagement, work life balance

      Cons

      No real engineering, lots of personalities, management is disorganized, not a lot growth opportunity

      Advice to Management

      Incentivize good work with better bonuses. Don't just give every employee the standard 3%. Focus more on using real engineering tools like Matlab and performing real analysis

    8. "Great Company with opportunity to grow"

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

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

      Pros

      Hard work rewarded
      Decent hours if you're an early bird
      Endless possibilities
      The people

      Cons

      Depending on what you're job is, can be repetative. As with any manufacturing job. Pay scale can seem on the low side, depending on the experience you bring.

      Advice to Management

      Look for talent within for promotions. Sometimes experience is better than a college degree.

    9. "Great Company to Work For"

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

      I worked at General Atomics full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Great company which typically looks out for its employees. Growing and innovative

      Cons

      Lost the MQ-25 program to Boeing, money is tight.

      Done A LOT of growing recently and as a result, brought in people who are more concerned about how they look and the bottom line instead of the people in the company (and considering the input of those employees who have been there more than 10 years)

    10. "Administrative Support to management and a team of 60 people."

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

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

      Pros

      Great growing company with great benefits, including pension plan and 401K. Great carrier opportunities. 8/90 schedule. Paid holidays and PTO.

      Cons

      Not all federal holidays are followed. Sick leave comes out from your accrued Personal Time Off that is zero at the time of hiring.