Pros
My fellow engineers made this experience the best job I have had. My manager cared about my professional growth and worked with me to fill my workload with projects that contributed to that growth.
Cons
I was hired along with dozens of other engineers in 2023 to meet a multi-year growth goal that Jeff (CEO) had laid out due to a highly profitable year.
Since then, work has been slow, and Michaels has lost enough bids that the business development team was fired. They hired a "chief of staff" who self-proclaimed to have no knowledge of this industry, and then proceeded to let about 20% of the engineering staff go to cut costs - mostly comprised of mid to senior level engineers, some having been at Michaels for over 18 years.
It is clear this move was made to lower engineering costs, while placing the remaining work on the plates of associate engineers with lower bill rates. This shows the volatile nature of working at Michaels energy. Management is skittish and quick to make major changes, demonstrating their disloyalty to those who make Michaels what it is.
Benefits are also the worst I have seen in this industry. You get 4 weeks for parental leave. I think that speaks volumes for how much Michaels values their team.