<p>I am mostly interested in Mechanical Engineering but it could be fun to hear other disciplines of engineering. What (in your opinion) is the best company to work for? It could be because of benifits, work that is being done, the people, management, overall atmosphere, chances for promotions, pay, anything? It doesn't have to be a company that hires a lot of engineers. That just means they need engineers. I want to know who is the best company to work for and why. It could also be interesting to hear how the military comes up in this poll.</p>
<p>I've been an intern at NASA for the past year (going to college next year), and I can say that from what i've seen the engineers there seem really happy (most of the time). of course, there's always a general tension about the funding coming through, but aside from that... =)</p>
<p>of course, since i've only been there for a year, and only as an intern, my view may not be entirely accurate.</p>
<p>A mech E friend of mine worked at Apple last summer and absolutely loved it. Apparently it's a pretty cool place to work.</p>
<p>I don't know if this really counts, but at the top of the list of most desired employers of any major, including engineers, are the management consulting companies like McKinsey and BCG, and the investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. These companies hire a LOT of engineers from the top schools like MIT and Stanford.</p>
<p>I work in the government sector. I would recommend Booze-Allen-Hamilton and SAIC. I would avoid the really big defense contractors like Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, or Boeing. As for government itself, there's interesting engineering in the Department of Defense, the CIA (and other intelligence agencies) and, of course, NASA. The national labs use lots of engineers: Lawrence Livermore (CA), Sandia and Los Alamos (NM), and several others. Finally, the government has chartered several companies as "federally-funded research and development companies" or FFRDCs. These include Aerospace Corp., MITRE, Center for Naval Analysis, RAND Corp., and others. These have more generous pay and benefits than the government (which is why they were created). </p>
<p>Be forewarned that there are local ghettoes in the best of companies. The pointy-haired boss has many clones. But, any mid-size firm has lots of opportunities. You should move around anyway.</p>
<p>RB</p>
<p>Why would you avoid the big defense contractors, like Boeing, for? I am researching this, and I would like some reasons why you would do that. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, the question was the <em>best</em> companies. The large defense contractors might be fine, but I encourage you to compare their benefits (retirement, bonuses, etc.) with the others on my list. You can forge a good career in any engineering firm. There have been studies about "best places to work", and many of the places I mentioned came up on the list.</p>
<p>As for Boeing specifically, you have to look at what part of that huge company you are considering. What will this new job teach you? What are the prospects for moving up to higher responsibilities, and how quickly would that happen?</p>
<p>Cheers,
RB</p>
<p>For those government positions in the Department of Defense or NASA would you need work experience before you had any chance of securing a job like that or is there a possibility that you could land one straight out of college?</p>
<p>I would say otherwise on the big defense companies. They offer really good benefits, and usually pay for further schooling. United Techonolgies subsidaries are great to work at. They recruit heavily right out of college and offer very good wages in addition to their benefits.</p>
<p>They need engineers at NRL. The whole place is pretty much docs/postdocs/grad students that have some sort of engineering degree. They have done lots of exciting research here including: invention of radar, etc. etc. If you want to see some more accomplishments: <a href="http://www.nrl.navy.mil/content.php?P=TIMELINE%5B/url%5D">http://www.nrl.navy.mil/content.php?P=TIMELINE</a></p>
<p>'NRL is the corporate research laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps and conducts a broad program of scientific research, technology and advanced development. ' So I'm sure you can do a lot there, but I hear government jobs get really dull so if you want exciting, try moving up the ladder at many private government contractors,etc.</p>
<p>I'm sure they pay well, and the facilities are great. I'm a high school student who got selected to SEAP mentorship so basically I get money to work with a couple of mentors for 8 weeks(I'm trying to do a co-op during school year), write a research paper, and do actual significant work. </p>
<p>If you ever do further schooling, I know as a post-doc you have lot of opportunities here.</p>