Younger engineers often get pigeonholed into a specific area, regardless of if they like that type of work. Supervising principals treat their underlings as personal slaves and don’t allow them to broaden themselves into new areas. This systematic problem was put on full display when the typical work disappeared over the past 3-4 years; engineers weren’t always allowed to go out and help the few areas of work that were busy because powerful principals “might” suddenly have a minor project come in. This resulted in extreme frustration for junior engineers who feared a layoff and were trying to diversify. Another consequence was total burnout of the few engineers/groups that managed to stay very busy during the downturn; they probably feel taken advantage of and are being driven to collapse with zero recognition for keeping cash flowing during the tough times.
The organization is very top heavy, both in terms of ownership and staffing. The extreme pressure on the youngest senior staff is overwhelming. They are held responsible for bringing in revenue to support the top who are too expensive to fire, but have for the most part checked out as they near retirement; however, they have minimal resources below them to help execute the work putting them in an untenable position, all while knowing they will never be true owners who may one day see the profitable fruits of their labor. The future looks grim knowing that the vast majority of outstanding shareholders are within 3-5 years of retirement; where will the money come from to pay them off as they no doubt feel entitled to regardless of the destabilizing effect it may have?
There are no written policies or checks/balances regarding upward advancement and promotion. Your rise within the organization will depend solely on whose group you are in and which of the Sr Management likes you. Forget chargeable hours, revenue generation, or leveraging yourself! Those are much too quantitative for the system which runs like a good ole boys club and has become highly political.
It’s no surprise that droves of top performers and arguably the individuals who were expected to one day lead SES are leaving for new opportunities. Sr Management claims there is absolutely no pattern here and that these engineers are leaving for unique, personal reasons. Their communication about these high profile departures often contain spin to suggest that we are better off without these “bad seeds.” Those who worked with these engineers know the truth as they work to fill the void left behind. It doesn’t take a genius to objectively look at the data and know that when your most promising talent is leaving, there is a systematic problem at play. It leaves the rest of us thinking, "Who's next?"
