<p>Hello,</p>
<p>A friend of mine received a job offer for General Electric's Edision Engineering rotational program with the Energy business. It seems like a great opportunity but I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the program. How is it regarded by other engineering companies/engineering graduate schools/top MBA programs? Also what would be a good salary for an engineering student graduating from college. Sorry if this thread is in the wrong forum.</p>
<p>I have no idea what other companies would think but I would personally just look at it as work experience. What that person learned during that work experience would mean a lot more than what kind of program they were in. I’m sure most top graduate schools would similarly not care in the least about the program itself but would instead care more about what was done at work.</p>
<p>The Edison program is absolutely one of the most highly regarded programs in industry. Graduate schools don’t really care about jobs that much unless that company is footing the bill, in which case they still don’t care what company it is. All they really care about is that you have done something to prove you are worthy of graduate study and you can generate money for them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>What both of you said makes a lot of sense. How do you think Edison would compare with rotational programs at other companies? Particularly in terms of meaningful work, refining problem solving abilities, expanding engineering knowledge, and leadership development.</p>
<p>Honestly, probably not that much different. Edison just has a great reputation because it is at GE, which is known to generate highly efficient and productive employees.</p>
<p>How they generate said employees is another matter altogether…</p>
<p>what do you mean by the way GE generates employees?</p>
<p>GE creates extremely efficient employees because they have a highly competitive, borderline ruthless corporate atmosphere. While I have never worked there myself, I know a fair number of people who have and they have have talked about it. How do they manage to foster such a competitive atmosphere? Every year they identify the bottom 10% of the company based on performance, and most of those employees are shown the door. It just really forces employees to do a lot of things that they otherwise wouldn’t to stay out of the bottom.</p>
<p>Now, this is all well and good for GE’s bottom line, but there are a lot of people who just don’t want to work in or simply can’t take an environment like that. Some people can. It is just something that people should be aware of before accepting a job there.</p>
<p>However, they have apparently cut back on this practice slightly since the former CEO Jack Welch left the company, but it is still there. I guess the main difference now is that the bottom 10% doesn’t necessarily encompass a full 10% of the company anymore, and is more of just the group of people at the bottom.</p>
<p>Still, it is important to note.</p>
<p>collegehunting - what rotational programs do you want to compare it to? I work for Northrop Grumman and completed their rotational program, so I can answer questions on that specific program if nothing else.</p>
<p>cosmicfish, I am interested to hear your opinion on the program you have completed. What do you do now that you are done with the program?</p>
<p>=( Thats a little heartbreaking to hear that GE is so cutthroat that it would fire its bottom 10% employees in an instant and what people would do to stay in GE, especially since I have always wanted to work for them. I’m sure that its true about most top industrial companies, but after all the great things I heard about GE and its great work conditions/ benefits…</p>
<p>That ISN’T true about most top industrial companies. Very few were that cutthroat. Of course, like I said, that has been scaled back some since the early 2000’s.</p>
<p>The program I went through at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems was a lot more flexible than GE’s - the rotations could be as short as a couple of months or as long as a year, whatever made sense for that particular job. Your first was assigned to you based on your nominal qualifications, after that it was up to you. They encourage you to take rotations outside your field of expertise, where practical - one group of engineers I knew went into business development and never left (by choice)! If you like that first rotation, you are welcome to stay there, if you are unsure you can go up to 2 years or even beyond (a bit).</p>
<p>There is no inherent grad study as part of the program, but the company will cover 100% tuition fees and books at a program of your choice (as long as it is related to your field - they generally don’t pay for engineers to get their MBA’s) and most managers have no problem letting you out to go to classes. Most people either go to Johns Hopkins or University of Maryland.</p>
<p>Please note that this is not a special program - most new engineers in NGES go into this program.</p>
<p>As for myself, I had a highly unusual exit from the program. I was offered a chance to “shadow” one of our most senior engineering executives as my final rotation, and that eventually led to a permanent position in a senior design department. I am still in that department, but shortly after I joined I was invited to study for my PhD. As a result I am currently a part-time employee working mostly from a remote location while I am a full-time student. They pay my tuition, fees, and books, and a majority of my salary (plus full benefits).</p>
<p>Wow, this sounds great. I’m sure programs like this are quite tough to get into. Are there any notable rotational programs besides the ones listed, or is this normal for all graduating engineers in most companies? Particularly for ones that pay for a graduate program…</p>
<p>I know Lockheed also has a standard rotational program, but I preferred Northrop’s because it was a lot more flexible and it was located near higher quality graduate programs. At Lockheed (in NJ) you do 3 6-month rotations that are decided for you, and if I understand it correctly the tuition reimbursement is a little dicier, too. It should noted that I did not experience this firsthand - I was offered a job there, and this is what they told me then.</p>
<p>Doesn’t Boeing also have a program similar to Northrop and Lockheed? Can anyone discuss their programs as well?</p>
<p>Are there any other companies in the engineering field that offer these types of rotational programs? If I’m not mistaken, GE not only offers rotational programs in engineering, but also business/finance and healthcare.</p>
<p>There are MANY companies that offer rotational programs. When I was interviewing 2 years ago or so it was very common to have some kind of rotational/development program and I’m sure there are tons of companies that I never even interviewed with that have similar programs. Caterpillar comes to mind.</p>
<p>Thanks cosmicfish, that was a very informative post!</p>
<p>Great informative replies guys.</p>
<p>I have another question about General Electric. Business week had a ranking of the best places to work post grad. GE was ranked fairly high and one statistic I noticed was a very high 90% three year retention rate. Initially this seems like a great thing that people want to stay with the company. However I have heard that it is can be difficult to leave GE because the training is awesome to move up the GE ladder but doesn’t help much outside GE. In other words you may not be as valuable to other companies as you are to GE. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>bump to the top</p>
<p>GE actually has several rotational programs for engineering majors. The three that come to mind are: the Edison Engineering Development Program, the Operations Management Leadership Program, the Comercial Leadership Program ([GE</a> Undergraduate Leadership Programs](<a href=“http://www.ge.com/careers/students/undergraduate.html]GE”>http://www.ge.com/careers/students/undergraduate.html)) </p>
<p>Both the EEDP and OMLP programs are quite well thought of and copied by many organizations. Participants that finish the two year rotational training program are highly sought after by other employers, many times at considerably higher salaries.</p>