Pros
Pros (Reviewed by a former programmer) Pros: excellent health insurance, generous bonus structure, paid overtime, above average cafeteria offerings, above average raises. Software development projects can be interesting and challenging...IF you land on the right team. Most projects are centered around specific processes (or groups of processes) on the assembly line. If you are a coder, there is plenty of front end and back end development work to support both existing processes and new processes, in a variety of different areas (weld, paint, engine assembly, etc.). Developers, keep this in mind: your end user 'customer' in this environment is any one or a group of employees working at a given station (in weld, paint, engine assembly, etc.) and sometimes you will be fortunate enough to see the 'fruits of your labor' used by the assembly line workers for the very first time. This is both unique and a little scary, as some end users will let you know EXACTLY what's wrong with your user interface! Overall, though, it's a cool experience. The plant is constantly growing, changing, and evolving. This is a good thing for developers, as new growth usually translates into new processes / projects on the line...which of course entails more development work. If you are lucky enough to land on the right project team, you're golden. (If not, prepare for endless dreary days of combing through log files looking for answers as to why a given process point stopped working, or isn't sending / receiving data properly...and then summarizing your findings in a report that no one will read...but which you must produce anyway!) It's a small IT staff (< 100 people) for a company of its size (approx 4500 employees). The technology stack is about 10 years outdated but they are working to correct that. Most of the IT managers are very approachable and want to see you succeed. Layoffs / firings are (uniquely) almost non-existent. During lean times (like 2008), the contractors will be the 'first to go'...but then many of them come back during recovery periods! Pay raises are better than average and keep pace with inflation.
Cons
Cons Attention would-be Honda Software Developers (of all skill levels): prepare to have your life interrupted with support calls every time the line goes down (which happens more frequently than you might think, unfortunately). Keep in mind that this factory exists to build cars, and while the frame assembly lines (2 of them) operate Mon-Fri on two shifts (morning and evening), the engine assembly line runs 24x7 to keep pace. Why is all this important to a programmer? If you are considering a software development job at Honda, pay careful attention here: when the line goes down (in ANY area / dept), it costs the company THOUSANDS in lost productivity and the software developers become...HELP DESK TROUBLESHOOTERS...!!! Yes, that's right...if a given process (or multiple processes) goes down for ANY reason, the help desk folks will be calling YOU on ALL of your available phone #s at ANY time of day, regardless of where you are, what you are doing, etc...and will expect YOU to assist in remotely troubleshooting the wayward process until it's working again. On vacation? Too bad...the line is down, we need help getting it running again. Your son or daughter is about to come to the plate or shoot some critical free throws? Sorry, get your butt off the bleachers and go get your laptop...you've got some troubleshooting to do! And now here's the kicker: if you don't respond to enough of your support calls, you will face disciplinary action! Now let me see a show of hands. Who wants to leave your daughter's dance recital...your son's scouting event...your child's big game...your dinner date with your spouse...to go troubleshooting an issue...up to TWENTY TIMES a month??? Yeah, I thought so. I felt that way too...and that's why I left (after many years of service). If you can put up with the constant support calls and having your life interrupted (and btw, you are compensated for the after hrs call time), then go for it...otherwise, keep looking...
