General Motors

There are definitely some benefits to working at GM: four weeks of vacation, a big company with big resources when they want to use them, good salaries, and good bonuses.

I worked in the hybrid division, and it was a fast-paced area that was full of innovation.

It's a really big company, so change is slow. Also, you can feel disconnected from upper management because there are so many levels. Since there are so many levels, it seems sometimes upper management doesn't make the best decisions compared to if they were an engineer working on the actual program.

Also, hybrids was moving towards being process-driven, which is good because it makes sure people think about what they do, but it can really slow down work and innovation as well.

My personal manager was excellent! They helped my career, gave me advice, and I could be open and honest with them. If every manager was like them, GM would be the best place to work.

To upper management, please stay connected to lower-level engineers (7 and below). Sometimes your decisions don't make sense to us, and I feel if you listened to the reasons why, you might agree and not make bad decisions that later have to be reversed or fixed.