Let me start by saying that this has been my first experience working in an engineering type company.. 'am a non-engineer (IT). so what 'am about to describe could hold true for this entire sector of companies.
What I've come to realize is that my sole purpose here is to be 100% billable, so I (and the rest of the project) can feed the corporate masters. The company is structure along Mercantilism thinking. In this example, the the colonies are the various projects (long or sort term) and the mother country is Pasadena. As such, the only concern of the Program Manager is to maximize billable hours and minimize cost (there goes training). It sort of reminds me of the Ben-Hur movie... When the Charlton Heston is told that he lived to row the ship... "You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live."
Indeed! Stay billable of you or lose your job. If your project is lost. not renewed, ect. be prepared to start walking. This is a very practical business model... to maximize profits and keep the top guys employed. But I don't see how this works for the common guy.
Let me wrap it up, I'm sure you are getting the picture. This place.. is just a job... this is just a straight-up staff aug place (like Kelly girl). Could you make it in here? Sure, some have... you could find yourself in a long-term project and be there for 20+ years. You could hop from project to project (if your skills can deliver that and you don't mind move to any state). If you want to build a career and be valued for something other than billable hours, then this is not a place for you.
