L-3 Communications called and emailed me today to make it official. I have 72 hours to decide and I don't know what I'm going to do. I think it's time to do a pro/con analysis!
Lockheed Martin's Offer:
~$60,000 annual + benefits
I'd be working on requirements management for the new crew vehicle.
L-3 Communications' Offer:
~$69,000 annual + benefits
I'd be joining their Constellation Program contracts team and probably working on the full-scale test simulator for the new crew vehicle.
I'm having my doubts about Lockheed Martin's offer now because A) the pay is significantly lower, even when I take their automatic 4% bonus into account B) the job would be more about management and databases than real engineering and C) my friend who helped me get the interview has found out that the manger I'd go work for has been having some serious personnel problems lately of his own making.
L-3 Communications is essentially offering me everything I told them I wanted... and Lockheed Martin is asking me to bank on them for the long haul, saying that I can expect a promotion as early as January and that I'd be well-positioned for transferring to another, more hands-on engineering job after I give this a couple of years of solid work.
One of the professors here I really respect has flat out told me that he's afraid Lockheed wants to turn me into a paper pusher for them and he thinks I can do better for myself at L-3. Now that I write it all down and compare them side by side... I think he's probably right.
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2 comments:
Okay.
Here is some advice my father passed down onto me.
"Never take a job just because it pays more." $9000 does seem like quite a bit more but really, it isn't that much of a difference. Plus, after you take out taxes they will both be a lot smaller anyway. Haha. Damn the man.
However, with that said... the job at L-3, as nerdy as it sounds, also sounds like it could be really cool. I mean, as cool as being an engineer could be. I think Lockheed is kind of like big 4 accounting firms. They look good on your resume but they aren't really long-term employers. They are a good place to start out... work a couple of years... and move on. I could be wrong but I get that feeling. How long-term is the project at L-3? What would you be doing after that project was done? Would the Lockheed job teach you management skills you'd use later on in life when you become chief engineering officer? :)
Haha I'm all trying to make your decision for you. Sorry if it is annoying. You can pay me back here in about a year when I'm trying to decide between big 4 accounting and working in health care.
L-3 doesn't hire people right out of grad school very often. The core of their workforce has at least 5-10 years of experience. Bringing me on is their way of saying "We like you. We think you're smart. We want to make you one of our best."
As for the Lockheed job, I think you're right. I would essentially be taking a job to learn as much about the vehicle and the process as I can and, then, try to get an internal hire to one of the design teams for later exploration modules.
With L3, I would be doing more real engineering work right off the bat and less engineering management. At this point in my life, that really is more of what I want to be doing. I don't want to spend my prime years pushing paper.
The technical lead I would be going to work for at L3 told me that their involvement in the Constellation program is growing by the week, so much so that they are probably going to create a new team just to work on those contracts. There will be a lot of room to grow and do different things. Everyone I talked to said they never have "just one project" they are working on.
When the senior engineering manager asked me which team I would pick if I could choose, I told him I'd pick the new Constellation program team. So, I don't think it's coincidence that my offer says I will report to the Constellation projects technical lead.
Lockheed would be the "easy" choice. While the work would be very time-consuming, I don't think it would be as challenging to me as an engineer and I would run the real risk of being railroaded into management earlier than I want. I'm also concerned that I'll end up just as frustrated with my Lockheed manager as I am with my grad advisor now.
Going to work for L-3 will be more challenging, I think, and require me to step out of my comfort zone a bit. Fortunately, their work environment is specifically designed for the engineers to be collegiate and help each other out. No one is left to sink or swim there. I think that will make me a better engineer in the long run, though, and I'll acquire the skill set and experience I want without getting bogged down in the administrative crap I know is inevitable at Lockheed.
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