field service analyst

assembler

manufacturing engineer

ensamblador

field service engineer

Belcan

Belcan is an engineering consulting company that works with numerous other companies to provide solutions and services.  As such, the experiences of its employees may differ depending on which company or team one is performing work for / with.

In my case, my overall experience with Belcan and the customer company I did work for was generally a bad one, although I'm not sure if it was the fault of Belcan or the customer.  The general structure of our arrangement was as follows: our customer had developed a fairly intricate system involving multiple simultaneous processes going on at once at all times.  This system was a service they offered to their own customers, who would be able to report issues with it back to them.  However, our customer had outsourced the monitoring and some maintenance of these services to both my team and another company that we had to correspond with at times - so we would be the first people to hear about it and the ones expected to resolve any issues.  This led to a number of problems.  For instance, my team members were not the ones who had developed the systems we were monitoring and maintaining, so oftentimes when we encountered an issue we would have to contact the individuals from our customer who had developed them for their clarification, expertise, or guidance. We also would not have any idea whether the root cause of the issue was ever going to be addressed to prevent repeats in the future.  Additionally, since we had no power over these systems and instead just had to monitor them, if any of them ever went down or needed to be restarted (a fairly common occurrence), we were unable to do so and would instead have to reach out to people from our customer who could.

When I was hired as a software engineer, I had been looking for a job for about 10 months, and wasn't bothered by the somewhat low pay - I was just happy that I was going to finally have a paycheck and be starting my career.  I was expecting to be working on impactful software relevant to the work we were doing, and for the first month or two I was.  After some time, however, such work took a backseat.  It quickly became evident that the majority of the work I was going to be doing was not going to be developing software, but instead working to resolve customer issues.  I was less a software engineer, and more like technical customer support - which made me feel as though my title and the job description I'd received in my offer were a bit misleading.  Software development was not the highest priority item, and even then another team member was more than capable of handling the majority of it himself.

One problem that definitely came from Belcan itself was its remote work policy.  When I started, working fully remote was still an option, but as a new hire I had to come in-person every day until I was set up to work remotely.  This took about two months, and I didn't have any complaints about it.  But soon afterwards, policy began to change.  Initially, it was requested that everyone come in one day a week if possible.  Again, I didn't have much of a problem with only coming in one day a week.  A few weeks later, and it was upped to 3-4 days a week, with the logic being that coming in to the office would help encourage more collaboration between team members.  While I can see the reasoning in that, it did not really apply to my team.  Virtually everyone that I frequently collaborated with was approved for exemptions to this rule due to their living situations, so oftentimes I was one of the only people present.  Were it not for the regular meetings (which had to be done at our computers anyway due to the majority of people still working remotely), I honestly think I could have gone days in the office without speaking a single word to anyone.  It was especially frustrating for this to be the case when coming in to the office meant two hours of commuting a day, along with gas prices.
A couple other downsides:
- relatively low pay
- a goal to consistently hit cost-savings milestones for customers each year.  While not a bad goal, may be unsustainable to continue reaching their current milestones at some point in the future
- Some communication failures in management

There were some positives.  The people I worked with all seemed good.  Many different people at all stages of their careers worked there, offering chances for networking and learning.  Belcan works with a large number of companies, and as such may have opportunities in a large number of different industries / fields for those interested - and it was a relatively common occurrence for people to get hired at the client companies they were doing work for.  I did get a chance to gain some experience with programming in a collaborative, professional environment.  However the negatives, especially the reality that software development was not going to be my main priority, definitely outweighed the positives for me.

A typical day at work can be stressful when communicating with customers (Pratty & Whitney, & UTAS) especially if issues spring between the customer and yourself, but managers make it clear what is expected of you when creating documents for the customer and if trouble arises. However, fellow co-workers and managers are always close by to lend you a hand should you need some help.  

I've learned a lot about using the necessary tools of the trade (Teamcenter & NX), and the process that is utilized in order to do so.  This has opened me up to at least understanding where in the process line Product Definition (PD) is, which is between Design, and Manufacturing. It has also fostered curiosity for the other parts of the process, more specifically design.

Management is very straightforward and to the point.  If you're underperforming, it will be made known to you, and discussions take place in order to get to the root of the matter.  Management also makes sure that you are given opportunities for excelling at your position, and make it known through the "Wings of Success" awards.  Management also makes it very clear what is expected of them when it comes to creating content for customers, and answer questions that arise.

Workplace culture is very inclusive.  Meetings happen each week with all PD employees to discuss successes, and areas for improvement.  Other employees that have an impact on PD also attend so that improvements and suggestions can be brought to the table.  In all, all personnel that affect PD meet in order to maximize output from all PD employees.  Workplace culture is also very relaxed and friendly.  Coworkers can foster friendships with each other, and also serve as mentors and guides when it comes to their knowledge and expertise.

The most difficult part of the job is when customers kick back content to Belcan.  This can be the most frustrating part of the job, as miscommunication can cause issues to come up.  It is common, but can be addressed through clear communication between Belcan managers, and the customer. It can be stressful in that there's no down time as well.  Since there's always work that needs to be done, you're constantly on the move, and tasks can pile up very quickly if you're not able to keep up with the work load, especially if you have projects that take longer than normal. One last thing that is tough is salary.  Since Belcan is a 3rd party representative, an employee would not be paid as much if they worked directly for a customer.  This is pretty common place for 3rd party representatives.

Personally, I enjoy the friendly environment, and the flexible working hours.  My time off the clock is extremely important to me, and having a flexible schedule means I can work the hours that best maximize my time that I can spend outside of work.  This supports having a healthy lifestyle outside of work, as I feel that is extremely important.  I've also come to learn that through some talks with my upper management, and have also approached management for advice outside of work (I'm looking to buy my first home soon and received great advice from my manager).

This is a nice place to start your career but be careful with your job performance. When you are very good at something that you don't like doing, you will probably get stuck doing that something for a very long time. Those who perform poorly on that job get a position/project that is much more interesting.

Another nice thing about this company is it helps you figure out your career interests. Trying multiple projects helps you zero in on what you truly want to do in your career. Thats what is very nice about the engineering services companies.

Typical day at work:
Write technical papers all day. Deadlines are typically pretty reasonable.

What I learned:
Many valuable military and airworthiness standards that can be applied at every aerospace company.

Management:
Constantly changing as the employee retention rate is generally low (under 2 years). 

Workplace culture:
Everyone is friendly and dedicated and we all have a flexible work week schedule. Having this schedule means that we can work 40 hours a week whenever we want. That means one could do 4 ten hour days and then take Friday off.

Hardest parts of the job:
Getting stuck on a project that you don't want to be on. Also make sure your project manager is on top of your project finances. Gaps in project funding result in you not getting paid as the company may not have another project for you during the funding gap.

Most enjoyable part of the job:
Flexible work week, coworkers are great, and working with customers at other large companies like Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace (formerly UTC Aerospace Systems), Safran, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.

Career Advancement:
If you are great at what you do and develop a good working relationship with customers they typically offer you a position at their company. An example: Working on a Collins Aerospace project for 1.5 years and being offered a direction position with them. Belcan wouldn't fight over this Non Compete Agreement because they wouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. However if you try and go to another engineering services company they may come after you so tread carefully in that scenario.

Salary:
If you are coming into an entry level engineering position at Belcan they will give you a low salary that is non negotiable. If you have a masters degree you will get a salary that is 7,000 - 10,000 dollars more than those who have just a bachelors degree. Common starting salary for those with a bachelors degree as a systems engineer here is 60,000 and the common salary for those with a masters degree is 68,000. You would make much more money working directly at the customer companies but your hours will be awful compared to the flexibility of Belcan's schedule.

Belcan is an engineering contracting firm (in my case for aerospace) supplying engineering services (and tech writing) to the client. The client is a government contractor which required a secure building with a coded badge for access.

Since I used to be a direct employee of the client, work for Belcan was basically a continuation of the same duties under different management. A new duty I performed was export-classifying documents according to the EAR/USML.

(Condensed) duties included writing the manuals, technical review of co-workers' manuals, pushing revised/new manuals through a multi-level review process, maintaining the database that controlled the progress of the manuals, and export-classifying numerous client documents. 

Immediate co-workers were fine as I had worked with them for many years. Most of them had also worked for the client.

Much of the tech writing was done under a cost per page budget. This added a time and monetary limit to doing the work as the number of revised/new pages set the fee to charge. No attempt was made to screen/analyze new jobs for difficulty or profitability. Larger revisions were easier to make a profit on than small revisions. Obtaining source data to write the manuals became increasingly more difficult with each year.

An enjoyable (but rare) part of my work was on-site (client) validation of written procedures to the hardware.

This is a support position in a large government lab.  A typical day starts with review of tickets and phone calls to customers.  Customers often put in tickets and then make it very difficult for you to meet them, however, if you treated them well most treated your back fairly.  You may have upwards of 30 or more tickets in your queue that have to be called every day according to SLA. Training is all OJT from coworkers and the bunch that I worked with were all male, crude and noisy and my lead tech had poor communication skills.  Tickets required you to open and attach a worthless document, such as changing monitor resolution. Also, just a lot of red tape and forms to fill out to accomplish a simple task such as re-imaging a computer. There are good techs there but you are isolated from them. Expect to be stuck in a small office with lots of  other people and little space to work on computers.  If you don't have a clearance, you'll to have to ask to ask a coworker to take you to the bathroom or anywhere else for over a year. Management is constantly shuffling around.  High priority tickets were often stressful and you may have to dump a customer to go on that ticket. All management cared about was meeting the SLA which was nearly impossible.  Pay was pretty lousy but their benefits package is good.  Personal leave is generous.  I took a pay cut to get out of there into a situation where I work by myself.

Overall Belcan is a pretty decent place to work. The quality of the work is decent, generally working on what other larger aerospace companies need. What you're working on greatly depends on which project you're working on so it's fairly difficult to describe what a day is outside of coming in and working on whatever project you're assigned to.

One of the main benefits of the job is great flexibility in terms of your work schedule. Outside of obligations such as meetings and being in the office to be able to chat with coworkers/outside people you're working with one can set their own work hours as long as they reach their 40 hours in the week. For instance one can come in as late as they want, work 4 10 hour days, or anything else.

However, one of the big downsides is the benefits side. While you can buy extra vacation hours without any downside outside of not having access to the money as you get paid, the total number of hours off from vacation and sick time is worse than some other company's just vacation time. Other benefits seem fairly weak compared to what other companies offer as well.

Pay also seems to be on the lower side.

Belcan's business model is heavily based on the fusion of semi-retired senior engineers to provide guidance with young recent grads to do the heavy lifting, which provides a very valuable process for all involved. You learn a lot from that type of guidance and mostly through baptism by fire. Often will find yourself on the frontlines of very important projects for customers with challenging deadlines, so work can be tough but rewarding (always a good feeling to point to an engine program and list off the parts you helped create). With a large amount of part time employees, Belcan is really strong in work/life balance and hours are very flexible. Pay is hourly and straight, meaning if you were x amount of hours, you get paid for x amount of hours, which is an excellent way to increase salary when work is plentiful. However, advancement and pay raises are limited by low service rates and a large dependency on a few key customers, so when those customers slow work orders, there isn't much recourse and downsizing can happen rapidly.

Daily completed any clerical work needed by the Health, Safety and Environmental Dept. and now for the Property Management Dept. backing up their Adm. Asst. when she is overloaded or takes time off as well as processing utility bills to be sent to Finance to issue payment along with some other vendors used by Property Management. Track utility usages on Excel spreadsheets for several people who need the data. I still do some work for HS&E recording safety audits on their intranet website. I have been tracking the costs of the Maintenance Work Orders on Excel and I enter and close Work Orders when needed on Maximo. Management and co-workers that I work with are very supportive, appreciative and pleasant.
Hardest part of the job is not always able to get the data I need for my spreadsheets.
Most enjoyable part of the job is using my skills and the teamwork atmosphere of the employees I work with.

Plan different jobs per Notification text in a SAP format - Field verify specific jobs - take Pictures for job package - Draw piping sketches per Notification text - Locate P&ID's - Spec Sheets - Equipment Drawings for Job Package & Material requisitions - Communicate  -w- Engineering group about Notifications, if any engineering questions arise - 
I've learned multiple SAP Tranaction codes - to save time in the planning stages.
Management helps when they can, if they can seem to be quite busy most of the time.
 Get along / communicate  -w- all co-workers.
Understanding Notification text seems to be the hardest part of the job. A high percentage are written with vague work description & work location text. Notification screening requires improvement. 
 Having your approved - planned job package worked without any problems from all the craft workers in your plan is the most enjoyable part of the job.

I was scheduled to work a 11 month contract position for a VP of Communications and the position lasted 10 weeks.

While I worked at Bayer Cropscience I hardly had 2 days of training.  The woman who was training me took care of her personal responsibilities because it was her last two days there.  I did not have access to certain area such as SAP because I was a temporary employee.  

I have to mention that the employees at Bayer were extremely nice but could not help with any questions that I had.  I wasn't introduced to the other assistants and had to try to learn how to do most tasks by myself.

For the first week of employment all I did was arrange travel for my boss.  International and domestic approximately 6 trip.

It was an experience learning on my own intuition and skills but managed to see my way through.  I also set up the new employee that was hired and showed her everything that I learned.  I worked with her for two weeks to make sure she was ready to handle the position.

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