Great experience offering poor pay, grinding work hours and little advancement opportunities.
Pros
GE is a highly respected company that looks great on the resume Exposure to many different processes and technologies Lot's to do, never get bored, since your doing the job of at least three people OK benefits except for medical. 401K match and GE is one of the few companies with pensions, but recent hires only get crummy cash value benefit. Training opportunities are generally good Everyone works hard, most people are helpful, slackers are a rare exception Direct managers are supportive and helpful
Cons
Pay is not just poor and not even close to industry averages, it's down right insulting given the level of skill and how much work is required. Forget about bonuses or even a little over time pay for a 60 hour week and whole weekends given to the company Pay increases don't even keep up with inflation Medical benefits with huge deductibles Everything possible is outsourced to the lowest bidder. Poorly paid offshore workers result in constant change and no knowledge retention. Everything is numbers driven. If it can't be measured with a number and stuck in a Powerpoint it doesn't matter to management. Customers can be mad as hell but if the metrics are good tyhat's all that counts. Useless employee surveys which never result in any changes The Six Sigma cult that is great for manufacturing and has no place in places like IT What's Ecomagination? Constant never ending stream of mandated training. Do IT people really need to learn the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Typical big company office politics, turf wars and the usual back stabbers that get the promotions Constant reorganizations that accomplish nothing except creating confusion Real promotion opportunities are limited and take years to get Way too many processes that makes getting every thing that much harder Work life balance is all work, no life
