calibration technician

structural engineer

mechanical engineer

entry level mechanical engineer

analyst

Applied Technical Services LLC

ATS is a decent place to work if you're starting in the industry.. Pretty middle of the road inspection company otherwise.. 

INSANELY CHEAP! At the end of the day it's a business so understandable that they try to increase profit to an extent. But be wary 10 times out of 10, if it comes down to them making a tiny profit or making you slightly more comfortable in any way, they choose profit.. On an average work day you can expect to use the cheapest equipment, that's also most likely extremely outdated. Expect to be using the cheapest PPE money can buy, think of needing a dust mask and being handed basically a piece of paper with strings on it.. If you're traveling they will take a portion of your per diem and any other expenses for themselves.. They start pay periods on Saturday so they can charge premium rates for you and pay you straight time, then sit you at home the end of the week.. Pay does start relatively close to the average for experience levels, however you will not be given much of a raise beyond that regardless of advancement. You gotta leave to get what you're worth, but that's not uncommon with most companies it seems.. It's not all terrible just want to be very clear on their practices to increase profit. If they thought putting you in front of a moving bus would make them $5, then expect to be hit by a bus.

That being said, they have an immensely diverse group of customers. You can expect to work in a wide variety of industries, to several different codes. That in itself is a great experience. 

It's kind of a mixed bag as far as quality goes. It seems some inspection companies operate on very high quality and safety, and some are extremely shady. ATS will give you both experiences. The procedures are excellent, and if you follow properly, the quality is second to none. Only problem is half the time they have this "get'r done" attitude and it comes down to you participating in the shady "get'r done" situations or not working.

All in all it's not that much different than most large inspection companies, I'm sure there's way worse, but there's also way better. I've definitely grown a lot and advanced my experience in my time there. I'd say if you're relatively new to the industry, it's worth while to work there. If you're beyond that, it's still a decent place to work, but just know what to expect.

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Applied Technical Services Inc will depend greatly on who is your manager and where exactly you would be working. It could be horrible or it could be great.

Management
Some low level managers/supervisors are great but most senior managers clearly don't know what they are doing. People don't matter, only profits. There's no trust at all, no trust up, down or sideways. This company needs an actual President with industry experience as an executive. A real leader that can come in and establish a good culture from the top. The current senior leadership team does not act by the published company values. They don't know how to spell leadership. This results in a bad culture overall and silo mentality. Departments fighting each other is the norm. Safety only becomes important when it costs them money in lost contracts or increased insurance costs. Quality, Safety, HR rules, are a nuisance in the minds of the most tenured managers. It's a mess. They need a leadership overhaul.

Culture
Medium size company over with 50 years in operation has not outgrown negative aspects of the "startup" mentality.
Many employees are awesome. There is a good group of talented people. A good leadership culture could bring this company to new heights.

Overall
My experience working at Applied Technical Services Inc was disappointing, and frustrating. Bad overall but it had good days.

Overall, great place to work. Speaking from the Consulting Engineering perspective - most of what you'll be inspecting and analyzing will be very old equipment at paper mills. Because of this, it's by no means glamorous. But it's a great way to depart from academia and see how equipment is really used in industry. Because paper mills are known for keeping their equipment running as long as possible, you'll get to see a lot of failed equipment and very old designs. If you dig in deep enough on the analysis side of things, you'll actually get to apply some of the engineering principles you learned in school, which is rare (most relevant courses would be Strength of Materials AKA Defbods, and Materials Science).
There are opportunities to be both a field engineer and travel a lot, or be more of an analytical engineer in the office - or a mix of both.

While interning as a Non-Destructive Test Technician, I performed tests, verification and visual inspections at chemical plants and paper mills in accordance to the client and supplier’s technical specifications under standards provided by ANSI.

• Analyzed and understood scopes of work on recovery and power boilers, economizers and tanks - hot well and filtrate
• Collaborated with engineers and senior technicians to consult strategic and efficient ways to execute each task

Test methods used:
• (UT) Ultrasonic Thickness Testing: 230 field experience hours
• (PT) Liquid Penetrant Testing: 66 field experience hours

Additional:
• Completed 10-hour OSHA certification course
• Completed 40-hour Radiation (Gamma Radiography) Safety course with a composite score of 93%
• Thorough understanding of OSHA, NRC, DOT and other regulations of safe practices

ATS has been a decent place to work, however the lack of advancement and low compensation really put a damper on the work environment, despite the company being extremely profitable. 

Being a family owned business, there are many polices that are written in stone despite research showing it is not the most efficient way to manage employees/run a department. Management will show interest in changing those policies, but will never act regardless of the research presented to them showing a change would attract more talent and reduce turn over. 

If you want a stable job, easy working hours (8-5 M-F), this is for you. If you're ambitious and want to move up in the company, you will either have to wait until a manager retires/quits/is fired or create an entirely new department, find clients that will pay for those services, and prove to management it will be successful (AKA build your own business within ATS).

There is no typical day, we were contractors performing inspection on site at various locations.  Work can take you anywhere, a work week may be 40 hours or may be 110 hours and there were times when there was no work to be had.  Employees must be ready to go on the road at a moments notice, keep a suitcase packed because you may be on the road as much as 200 days a year.

There is plenty to learn and industrial inspectors are in demand so there is plenty of job security and ability to move up.  Organization was usually a bit of an issue because the job scope was constantly changing and man power is often reallocated to cover work.

The hardest thing about the job was the demands on your time, which left very little for a personal life or properly taking care of yourself.

The most enjoyable part was the interesting job locations, be prepared to see things most people will never see in their life.

ATS  is a mess. You will routinely work in departments you were not hired to work in. Be prepared to work at least 3 roles at one time for mediocre pay. Mileage reimbursement and per diem is great when you get it. Work life balance is horrible with extensive travel. If you have a family or enjoy being at home this is not the job for you. They worry so much about "monthly" goals that nothing else related to your employee/personal development is relevant. The churn and burn with no regard for anyone else or any form of planning. PTO accrual is mediocre until you hit like 4/5 years. Be prepared to burn it all around the holidays though when business is slow. You'll essentially be strong armed into saving PTO and using it when business is slow; you'll never have a real vacation. 

I was consistently challenged to produce more and better results at ATS. Because I was trusted to do my job by my own systems and methods, I was able to produce substantial results that  contributed to the company's bottom line. Those results have continually helped me to have a choice of jobs, even when the economy was bad. This includes the choice to return to ATS, as it is with all good employees that might have left for various reasons. 
Entrepreneurial types will not be held  back  at ATS. ATS continually seeks employees that can bring additional expertise or customers to the table. Employees that proves themselves are  quickly rewarded. For example, I recruited an engineer only 5 years ago that already has a ATS subsidiary company reporting to him.

PROS

1.) Getting to grow your communication skills while talking to other associates and departments.

2.) Learning about the equipment / tools you work with.

CONS

1.) Terrible management (Calibration / Vendor Services department).

2.) Work Stress VS Personal Life Balance 
- For the amount of stress you receive and getting no recognition for the hard work you put in, is bad. For feeling like you can’t take a lunch because you want to get all your work done and stay caught up, only for your manager to bash you for leaving 15 mins early is insane.

3.) Work Pay
- You do NOT get paid enough for the amount of work and stress you take in. I was paid $19.50 hr and it wasn’t worth it. I left and took a pay-cut to help my mental and physical health. 

They seriously have a management problem. Every department is a SEPARATE Kingdom and there's very limited interaction with others. Every department is selfish about their salespersons and won't share resources or leads. This, unfortunately, creates a lot of friction and unnecessary competition between multiple departments. The IT department, instead of helping other departments' needs, it's actually slowing down every process. ATS is good at replicating the exact same thing over and over again with little to no thinking. There's no place for creativity. 

This would be a GREAT starting point in your career. But if you're in your mid-career you might want to look elsewhere.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Calibration technician 8 salaries reported	$29.50 per hour
Structural engineer 2 salaries reported	$121,250 per year
Mechanical engineer 1 salary reported	$105,000 per year
Entry level mechanical engineer 4 salaries reported	$80,000 per year
Analyst 1 salary reported	$45.00 per hour

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