fitter

welder

naval architect

pipe welder

quality assurance inspector

Austal USA

Life is great... If you're from Mobile working for this builder of this poorly designed ship (LCS - which truly means Litoral combat ship). This is a company that cares little for their start up San Diego office or are open to business recommendations to improve both quality of work and life. As a salaried employee, you will be expected to work relentlessly while the project remains undermanned for months.

The turnover rate has been high in my time on site, this includes senior management. If you're not blindly loyal to Austal, then be prepared to be ousted. By the way, when and if you quit, they are well known not to honor the 2 weeks notice, will let you go on the spot. The work of the previous person is given to another individual w/o getting a proper turn over. They send out surge support from Mobile to set up, but leave you to manage the tools. If your job doesn't allow you enough time to develop the tools, how will you have time to manage them?

If you care about your job, there will be little opportunity to feel good about the work you do because there's a lack of foundation. You'll find yourself in many awkward positions w/ the customer. The only care they have is cash. They are desperate, almost gasping for air and have absolutely no shame for exploiting tactics that double charges the government. At the same time, be prepared for use of primitive tools - everyone has their own, proud little pet project of an Excel spreadsheet instead of an integrated database management system.

If you have integrity, good work ethics, understand quality and project management, this place will be a demoralising joke. If feeling good about what you do is important, walk away. I have very little positive things to say about Austal and I wish it weren't so. I'm out the first chance I get.

-You get to work go to start up meeting, leave start up meeting after learning your task for the day and set up your work area do your task and clean up. 
-I learned how to effectively weld aluminum and welding procedures.
-The supervisor I had there was very terrible at his job he stayed on his phone almost all night, was hard to get materials or guidance from him when needed, always in the bathroom or hard to find, left to break/lunch 10 to 30 mins early every night. He always treated new guys terribly and refused to teach anyone new so I seen alotta new guys struggle. He was mentally abusive. That being said not all management is as bad as him, I worked with several other supervisors and foremans that will go above and beyond to teach you and help you along the way and do anything to help you.
-Most of the people you will work with there are upstanding guys and will do anything to teach you or help you with anything that you are struggling with, but you do have the usual cut throats there that you will find at other places that will take credit for work they didn't do and sit around being lazy all night while you work etc.
-Hardest part of the job would be how physically demanding it can be at times alotta stairs and ladders to climb, climbing through tunnels, tight spaces, poor lighting.
-The most enjoyable part of the job is if you work night shift you get an extra dollar an hour, and you get to work 4 10's allowing you to get a 3 day weekend which is great, you have decent insurance and the money is pretty good.

Great job opportunity and benefits. However, the apprenticeship program I was apart of lacked much in the classroom curriculum as well as opportunities to work under Class A journey men. Also, many of the supervisors and foreman don't know the basics of how to read blue prints much less have beneficial personalities. 

Supervisors, foremen, need to have better personalities and understanding in training apprentices and new hires.

There is favoritism to the point that there are people in authority that do not have the character nor understanding to train and equip mature tradesmen to benefit the company.

Also, the HR sometimes compromises the AL law when it comes to osha safety (I'm osha 10 certified) and work based injuries and benefits. This happened to me personally. I had to get a lawyer to get what the law of Alabama clearly states are my rights when I was injured on the job.

Again, this shipyard is clean and has the potential to be the best shipyard in Alabama, but if the people within the authoratative positions do not care to operate in lawful integrity and justice, no matter how good the potential for a business, it will not reach its ultimate potential and success.

Austal is a good place for young mechanical engineers to gain technical experience. There aren’t many senior/experienced engineers left, so the younger engineers are forced to learn quickly. So there isn’t really a “training” period. You’re just given work, and crash through it until you figure it out. Of course, peers are always willing to help though. This can be quite stressful, but overall very beneficial. I’ve gotten a really good foundation for basic system design principles and am very thankful for everything I’ve learned. 

The overall morale at Austal is pretty negative, in my opinion. People are fed up with the amount of work, fed up with management. But my personal experience has been different than most - I’ve worked with some of the kindest people, and developed good relationships with my upper management. 

Austal is a good place to work if you like in depth, detailed tasks, and if you’re capable of effectively managing your time and working efficiently. 

The hardest part of working at Austal (for me) has been pushing through the negativity. There are some things that go on here (“salary”, end of the year shutdown is unpaid, inability to keep engineers) that make it very difficult some days. 

At first they make you feel welcome so that goes on for a while. As soon as they see that you have a voice or that you know just a little more than they do about the business they are in, you become the enemy. Keep aware of the good old boy club because this will also make your job almost impossible. I saw Project Managers struggle to get man power because they where not in the good old boy club. California gets worse because if you are a Cali person and not a Mobile transplant you will get zero support. The finance department here at Austal hides all sorts of money from the Government and they act like it’s normal to do that. The National City office is ran like a concentration camp and you are expected to work more than 8 hours a day and not one Project Coordinator gets paid overtime which in California that’s illegal. Beware of this company both in Mobile, AL and National City, CA. I’m actually surprised no one has opened a claim with the California Division of Labor Standards. Thursday’s are slaughter days at the ER completely unprofessional and people get into arguments all the time. 

Good place to work for pay and benifits however there is a direct link between your state of health and the finely ground aluminum dust you will breath in from minute you clock in untill clock out. I was there five yrs and had multiple lung and chest infections. You must wear a mask as a fabricator as much of your day as possible to prevent a decline in health. Ive not been sick once since i left there over 3 yrs ago. They dont like to issue cartridge mask if you are not clean shaven.  If you are scruffy....buy your own that uses the filters they have in tool room. Earn your pay and try not to let the lazy employees you see around you each day demoralize you. Take pride in knowing you are just simply a better person with better work ethic  than those lazy check collectors are. Bring $20 a day for powerade in july and august. You will need it. AUSTAL claim to fame is cleanest shipyard anywhere. Duh!!! Its new and many employees there are excellent in the art of the broom and dustpan (the skills on some people's resumes). If you can find humor in anything then you will have a blast at AUSTAL.

Licensed Electrician with 20 years of experience. Skilled with diagnosis, repair, and installation in
residential,commercial,industrial,marine environments.
Proficient with electrical systems including but not limited to machinery shutdown / navigational communications /
internal communications / PLC Systems.
National Electric Codes (NEC)	Excellent written and verbal communication skills
AC/DC power and control systems	Superior troubleshooting skills
Electro-mechanical proficiency	Test equipment operation
NEC codes and codebook	New construction
Digital circuitry	Sub-panel installation
Branch circuit wiring	Diagnostic testing
Blueprints & Schematics	Commercial and industrial electrician
Safety & QA 	 Cable Tray  Conduit
Gained extensive experience in analyzing and following manuals, schematic diagrams, blueprints and other
specifications.
Mastered the use of measuring/testing instruments such as ammeters, ohmmeters, voltmeters and testing lamps.
Consistently commended for team-player mind-set, "doing it right the first time" and working with minimal supervision
under tight deadlines

Austal USA is a good co. as far as benefits go. But the working conditions are unsafe for the most part, there is a system of preferential treatment, and rules that are only implicated for some. The playing field is not even and it is extremely hard to move up and better yourself unless you have relatives or are in really good with the shift foremans or managers. Once you have hit your ceiling at whatever position it is you are in, thats pretty much it. There is no incentive, encouragement, or even a recommendation process that happens. They simply do not care about you and would just rather no one ever speak up for themselves. Also the company went to a "mandatory rotation" from day shift to night shift. Only to find out it was only mandatory for some of the crews. And these crews are expected to work in 3 month rotations. Which means 3 straight months on night shift...which means half of the year...which means half of a family man or woman life away from their families.Should never have called it mandatory if it was never intended for the entire company.

Austal is a mattress manufacturer who got into the business of building boats (not really ships) for the US Navy. It was a very poor decision for the Navy, but a very lucrative one for a minor league shipbuilder. The LCS platform is the disposable razor of Navy ships. It has limited utility and doesn't last very long. This isn't entirely Austal's fault. They delivered exactly what the Navy asked for, and not a bit more than was required. Then the Navy asked for a bunch of changes, which Austal readily provided after the Navy showered them with money. They treat their employees like mercenaries. They pay fairly well, and the health benefits are better than average. The managers are not skilled at shipbuilding, but they are experts at blame-shifting. It is a viper pit for managers and project managers. If you aren't part of the Alabama clan, you are an outsider, and basically cannon fodder for their war with the Navy. This gravy train is ending after the last ship is delivered sometime in 2022 or so.

Good health benefits..that's it. There's a few good crews and supervisors holding up the entire company, as far as production goes. The large large majority of supervisors/foremen (ESPECIALLY foremen) sit at their desk all day doing absolutely nothing, they will pull up random 3D models of the ship or prints to act like they are "reading" something, however in the other corner is their cellphone where they watch YouTube all day. 

They also allow members of the "good ol boy club" to come to their desk and talk about last night's football game, or their hunting trip for the weekend. Foreman at this company do absolutely nothing, supervisors are not far behind them but there are a few good ones that will help you out.

Rework is absolutely horrendous at this company because the QA department is almost non-existent.

Pitiful amount of personal time is given, absolutely horrendous hourly rate of which you occur vacation time.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Fitter 8 salaries reported	$39.67 per hour
Welder 1 salary reported	$20.50 per hour
Naval architect 5 salaries reported	$83,369 per year
Pipe welder 3 salaries reported	$39.67 per hour
Quality assurance inspector 2 salaries reported	$37.87 per hour

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