General Motors

• If you are an engineer developing future products, your work will literally affect thousands, if not millions, of vehicles, which can give you a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction.

• If you are an engineer and you work somewhat hard and show that you are capable and proactive (self-starter), you can move up the pay scale quickly. You will also get the support you need to make the changes you envision.

• The company is very flexible in helping you deal with life events that come up.

• In my time there, I have not observed anything "evil" about the company. They are in it for the long haul; they want to do the right thing and not cut corners just because customers might not notice. GM seems to have a strong corporate conscience, even if it means we have to sacrifice profits in the short term.

• The work culture is overall good. The managers are trained to resolve disputes and to conduct themselves fairly. They care about your career, prod you to try to define where you want to go, then they help you to get there.

The weather in Michigan isn't for everyone.

It often feels like there are many "silos" within GM, and engineering work/findings are not shared readily and transparently among the engineering teams. Frequently, redundant work is done simply because Team B wasn't aware that Team A had already done that work. Information is not organized, shared, and made searchable.

Join the 21st century by bringing IT up to par. Rather than silo'ing information off and only granting access to folks on a case-by-case, need-to-know basis, open up access and allow all the engineers to share a lot more of their information with each other. This will accelerate product development.