Very promising mission and company held back by rampant incompetence
Pros
- Interesting mission with a reasonable market case (blended wing body commercial airliner) - Some capable and bright coworkers - Strong technical basis of product with opportunities to incorporate previous R&D
Cons
- Politics of a much larger, slower company - Lower than industry average compensation, despite recent supposed "re-leveling" activities dictated by the C-suite. First line and middle management left out of the process. - Promotions are rare and generally don't come with a raise - Lack of transparency - Incompetence and negligence allowed to fester. Poor performers are not coached and rarely let go - Fundraising delays pushed back engineering hiring and hardware acquisition. Engineering is still expected to deliver "one-time" - CEO constantly fighting with engineering about resourcing, budget, and strategies - Those who disagree with the CEO are liable to be fired or placed on administrative leave - Nepotism is everywhere: spouses, children, and fraternity brothers are given precedence over those with experience and qualifications - Management prefers hiring externally and using expensive contractors rather than train and promote from within - Low morale and increasing turnover - Magical thinking - general refusal to address or fix problems and insistence that "marketing" and "vision" trumps physics - Operations and manufacturing organization exists only in name - Poor / non-existent team culture. Over 50% of the company is remote.
