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General Atomics

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General Atomics Software Developer reviews

3.6

78% would recommend to a friend

(77 total reviews)
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Neal Blue

84% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

Software Developer employees have rated General Atomics with 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 77 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Developer professionals have a good working experience there. General Atomics is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Developer professionals compared to other employers within the Aeroespacial y defensa industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

77 reviews
3.0
Jun 9, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fortunate to be with a team with friendly, helpful people 9/80 schedule is nice Structured way of working There are provisions for a hybrid working environment

Cons

Development process is old and there wasn't any effort or interest to improve it Isolated/restrictive development environment Structured way of working may not be good for everyone Pay can be below the competitive rate Opportunities for growth seem limited Lots of tribal knowledge

2.0
Apr 7, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Raised pay from not competitive to competitive. Hybrid work schedule (some WFM, some in office). People are collaborative and understanding. A lot of diversity. Good culture and values. Looks good on your resume.

Cons

Raised pay from not competitive to competitive ONLY after all the software developers started leaving the company. Hybrid work schedule ONLY if you don't have any work to do on site or are a manager. (SPOILER - all the work is done on site) People are collaborative and understanding ONLY if you are lucky. My first team was great, then everyone left and now my new manager and team members have micromanagement problems. A lot of diversity due to the fact that GA offers H1B work VISAs. Good culture and values ONLY if your values include an infatuation with military technology and beer (for some reason everyone who works here seems to drink alcohol). Looks good on your resume BUT is very hard to describe since you can't be too specific.

1.0
Mar 27, 2023

It is all true ...

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- typical benefits - light to medium work load - no one ever gets fired

Cons

As others have stated: - Senior Software Developers are basically ignorant of modern software design, development, delivery practices. You will learn nothing from them. They routinely make short-sighted, poor decisions, but continually defend/deflect criticism citing irrational reasons. - EDD (Ego Driven-Development) and NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome dominates. No one allows changes to the underlying design because it reflects poorly on the original developers ego, yet Senior developers get to poorly write/re-write software that already exists to boost their ego and gain credentials. - The software quality is obviously poor as a result. Maintenance (bug-fixing) to Development ratio ranges from 4:1 to 10:1. - High turn-over in lower positions and no advancement because senior devs have been there forever. - Managers and Directors are political appointees: family, friends, brown-nosers instead of being skilled developers with strong training and experience with modern technology. - Whatever training you get is trivial and non-transferrable, mostly oriented towards following procedures. - HR exists to protect manager and directors instead of addressing the root cause of conflict, which is their technical deficit. - Business outlook is poor. Demand for Predator/Reaper products is low because the software is so bad. Pentagon budget requested 0 Reapers in 2020-2023 budgets, but Congress forces USAF to by 4 more each year to subsidize the defense industry. In 2022, USAF actually proposed getting rid of 250 out of 330 Reapers. Foreign Military Sales are not panning out because of poor software performance.

Viewing 19 - 21 of 77 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,270 General Atomics reviews submitted anonymously by General Atomics employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if General Atomics is right for you.