Major Pluses and Major Minuses - Engineering Specialist Caterpillar Employee Review

3.0
Mar 13, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company enjoys 90+ years of experience, and hence lots of best practices and grey beards who know how products are supposed to be developed. It is indeed core engineering and if you enjoy core engineering - this is the place! It is an international company and does most of it's functions in-house, which means that you have many diverse career options to choose from. They pay relatively on the high side too.

Cons

Corporate hubris is rampant. Ability to pivot into digital space has been messy. Very hierarchical and less transparency in upper management levels. Careers in Machine learning, Big data and AI are mostly based on nepotism not meritocracy. It helps enormously if you're part of the 'Good Old Boys Club' to move up in your career. Most frontline engineering managers are in their 50s - and they've been managers for the last 15-20 years (similar to career politicians) and have very little appetite for new ideas, risk taking, etc. Employee development is poor. Peoria, IL (Cat Headquarters) is an absolutely featureless, culture-less town in which most of the exciting engineering jobs are located. So good luck if you want an exciting out-of-work life!

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5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits Great WLB Great pay

Cons

Low mobility to move up within company

2.0
Apr 30, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You are treated with autonomy, dignity, and respect. It is assumed you know how to do your job and are given the trust and means to do so. Compensation is above market value. Uncapped professional growth if you know how to play your cards right.

Cons

Working at Burger King and living from my car in Northern Michigan during the middle of winter was preferable to working on-site in Peoria. Project work was inherently meaningless and dictated almost entirely by the caste system this company has in Central, IL. My relocation had absolutely nothing to do with the role at hand and was a power play by management to get me to become a bleed-yellow Peorian in the CAT-corporate social club. The company loyalty here is absolutely disgusting and has nothing to do with the viability of the brand or product. Everyone is enamored with the status and wealth they've attained on account of not performing hard, manual, life-threatening labor. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually cares about what goes on in the defense division or addressing the geopolitical anomalies between the former headquarters and the new business direction of the company.

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