Boeing reviews

3.7

71% would recommend to a friend

(18,269 total reviews)
avatar

Kelly Ortberg

76% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Boeing has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 18,269 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Boeing employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aeroespacial y defensa industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

18K reviews
3.0
Oct 25, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- great pay - good health care package - generous 401K matching - flexible work schedule (telecommuting, time-flexing) - learning together program pays for aerospace-related education - formal and informal mentoring - great career advancement opportunities (for middle management)

Cons

if you are excited about developing new technology, if you are more interested in engineering than paperwork, if you are young and passionate, this place is not for you. BSS used to be Hughes, which was a non-profit and once produced high-quality, cutting edge technology, where no expense was spared, and engineers were deeply invested in the product. now under the boeing model, BSS outsources everything, leaving only integration activities at the site. cost reduction, lean manufacturing (terrible for custom-built spacecraft), and meeting scheduled milestones are now the most important metrics. innovation is killed because 1) outsourcing has lead to the gradual loss of technical expertise, where activities shifted from in-house knowledge to managing subcontractors, 2) the employees are on average old "grey beards" who protect what knowledge they have to retain employment and command ever-higher salaries, 3) programs are so desperate to produce value in the form of profit that old, proven designs are propagated and new designs are ignored because of their poor short-term investment return, 4) it is impossible to fire anyone, meaning that lazy, incompetent engineers remain, creating a culture that embraces the path of least resistance, i.e. "if it ain't' broke, don't fix it." in addition, boeing has too much management. it is the opposite of a flat management model. i have never seen so many levels of management. everyone in charge of anything is so busy protecting their own "turf" that the bigger picture -- actually making awesome satellites -- is ignored. the organization is too big, too slow to react, too afraid to be daring, too old, too focused on the wrong set of goals.

4.0
Oct 24, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great compensation, great benefits, good people with competent leadership. For a software engineer, Boeing is a good place to grow as a leader managing complexity, but technical growth is limited to very specific facets of the defense industry. The work is somewhat interesting/enjoyable, and there are opportunities to present advances to the company and industry. Social ambition (offering to manage projects, presenting, running meetings, etc) is rewarded greatly, and technical ambition is rewarded only with breakthroughs, patents, etc.

Cons

In St. Louis, the location is pretty awful - in a bad area of town and older, dreary office buildings. My biggest complaint is that the company is so large and there are so many technical problems being solved, that there is a ton of redundancy. You might be working on a solution for a year, only to find that another team has implemented something very similar. Joining the solutions may be technically or politically difficult, so then each team attempts to justify its pursuit of the solution. Technical competence is rewarded differently by different teams, and to truly stand out, I recommend joining an advanced technology organization like Phantom Works - this gives you the opportunity to work on more interesting DARPA projects and to pursue patents. While leadership is generally competent, the overall management system at Boeing is overly complex and it can be very frustrating.

4.0
Oct 23, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of diversified projects to work for (if you know how to find them) Excellent benefits (few of the companies that offers pension plan in addition to 401(k)) Emphasize employee wellness (weight management and quit-smoking programs) 60-day layoff notice

Cons

Need to know people within the company to establish relationships Different divisions/locations have different cultures and different management styles Like typical large company, changes are slow and communication needs to be improved Annual merit increase is slim if you are over 50+

Viewing 17749 - 17751 of 18,269 Reviews

Glassdoor has 20,615 Boeing reviews submitted anonymously by Boeing employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Boeing is right for you.