Great engineering-first culture, nice people
Pros
I really enjoyed my time at SGSS, and would recommend it to others, especially if you're interested in space industries. - They took the time to thoroughly train me out of college, ramped me up on tasks in a very sustainable way, and were always compassionate and flexible about delays while ramping up. - The engineering managers have a lot of control over the shape and direction of the work, and they've been at it for decades in most cases, so I always felt like I was working on the right stuff. Very very minimal MBA interruptions. - There was always space to step up to the plate and take on additional responsibilities; if you're in a place in your career where you're looking to grow, this is a major plus. In other words, you can definitely wear as many hats as you feel comfortable reaching for. - OTOH, there were definitely people there doing a more relaxed 9-5 soft coast, and they'd been there for years, so I definitely don't think it's a "hustle" or "rockstar" culture. - The work is super interesting, IMO - can't go into detail but if you're interested in satellites/space, this is definitely a company that directly interacts with the particulars of the field. - Pay was very fair IMO,
Cons
- When I was there, the whole project-management process was pretty chaotic. This allowed a lot of leeway which was nice, but also lead to stress in other times. For example, balancing priorities from conflicting internal stakeholders could get tough, and it leaked over to engineering than it probably "should". - There are some roles that require travel / onsite work, which I would personally find draining. - I didn't stay for long, but I got the impression that raises wouldn't keep up with inflation/bull market SWE salaries. But that's almost all companies TBH - Very white and very male, at least when I was there. I never ran into explicit problems with DEI and they do have some women/PoC in positions of authority, but it was just a fact that a huge majority of my coworkers fit that demo. - At the start there's a lot to learn, both about the industry and their specific product(s). - At the highest levels of management there was definitely some boomer-dom, e.g. resistance to WFH, traditional office culture, a preference for hierarchy. Nothing crazy, but noticeable.
