manufacturing technician

assembly technician

manufacturing engineer

production technician

senior manufacturing engineer

Cirrus Aircraft

I can safely say Cirrus has a very long way to go to become an employer of choice.  I will start with overall company issues then breakdown some ones for general areas.

Overall:
The majority of the "old guard" is very resistant to process improvement, and afraid of new, young, dedicated employees to the point they will do all they can to keep them from advancing, or having their voice heard.  This of course gives very little room for advancement.  If you notice a major mistake they have been making for years and bring it up to your supervisor (usually the one that made that mistake for years) you can basically guarantee you won't get an opportunity to climb the ladder.  I can not count the amount of times a week I hear "I don't care if it is wrong/inefficient/wasteful/not per our approved process we have been doing it this way for a long time and it seems to work fine.  The pay is extremely below industry average and below regional average.  You get very limited vacation time.  40 hours a year for the first two years then slow small jumps till at 15 years you max out at 90 hours a year.  Very few people in the company have a passion for aviation.  Lots and lots of fighting between departments on who is the worst/most incompetent/at fault with no one wanting to take responsibility and fix the issue.  Work life balance very limited.  Most of the "jet" program employees worked 50 hour minimum weeks for a year and a half.  Very toxic corporate culture that encourages unprofessionalism and arguing.  Owned by a parent company that makes long term employment not a sure bet.

Engineering:
Typically inexperienced engineers are hired right out of school due to their willingness to accept the subpar pay.  Of course with young talent lots and lots of issues and errors arise as they are still learning.  There is no process in place to correct and catch these errors such as major drawing errors and they trickle down the line causing more and more waste ($$$) than if they were caught before the drawing was released.  Seeing that the powers that be figured the proper solution was to throw more inexperienced engineers at the problem.  This of course just multiplied the waste and causes frustration and issues to every department that has to deal with what they worked on.

Quality Assurance:
Unreliable and often improper training.  This is mostly due to the "old guard" and the fact QA is actually there just to look good for the end customer therefore resources are very limited.  Management and supervisors not really qualified for their positions and aware they have very little power to change any issues they are the people they supervise find.

Manufacturing:
Management and supervisors are not really qualified for their position and it shows.  On top of that they are extremely burned out as manufacturing is always a day away from failing.  They just don't have desire or drive to do anything except barely keep manufacturing going.  Many of the technicians do not take their job seriously and do not realize lives are at stake if they do their job incorrectly.  Contributing to this might be the low pay and lack of care by their supervisors and management.  Many know nothing about the aircraft they are building and have no desire to learn.

As you can see by now there are a load of issues at Cirrus, but the company isn't all bad.  Cirrus is a great place to start your career and learn some skills before you move on to a big boy company.  You can learn and get all the bugs out of your system, so you can be very good at your task at your next company.  You will also meet many other people just starting off their careers that you can build lifelong friendships with that can help you get your dream job through networking once they move on.  Even if you have limited skills and experience Cirrus is willing to give you a chance in hopes that you can contribute to their company.  There are also quite a few celebrities you get to meet while employed there.  The flying club is the #1 greatest benefit at the company where you can learn to fly and fly for extremely cheap.  If you love aviation it will cover up some of the issues the company has.  With all that said I suggest anyone starting out fresh from college or somewhere else to apply here and possibly start out your career at Cirrus.  I would strongly suggest though, that you stay at Cirrus no longer than a year or you will become burned out, feel stuck, and give in to their toxic corporate culture that will very much hurt you in the future.

Pros:
-Great co-workers, some of the easiest to get along with and more genuine people I've worked with.
-The town, Duluth is a great outdoorsy city (but you better like winter, like nine consecutive months of it with long stints of sub zero weather).
-Small company atmosphere where young engineers can get great, hands on experience and ownership/responsibility (probably too much).

Cons:
-Benefits: I know it's general aviation, but pay is severely low and the COL of Duluth is actually not that low (which is somewhat ironic considering the price point of the planes they build), 401k matching takes an entire year to kick in, vacation is comical (40 hours total for your first TWO years - if you're allowed to take any).

-Life/work balance: the jet program is in survival mode after the program was scrapped for several years, only a handful of the original engineers were kept on and then they re-started the program and hired the entire jet dpt. after they were bought up by a Chinese company (who's ownership and long term plans are not the most transparent to say the least). With customers deposits still in place the new team has had to keep up the original timeline with a bulk of the new employees being fresh out of school or laid off from other industries with very limited aircraft experience overall (very low budget operation). The jet program is kind of like a start-up without the fun, perks, or talent. Weekends are very common and 6-10's are very common in crunch time for several consecutive weeks (which is unfortunate bc most employees are young parents). Don't be surprised if you work a lot of 60-70 hour weeks until the jet is fully certified.

-Employee development: there is absolutely no training and it is sink or swim, you will likely not even get an annual review, and if you do what you say will not matter as you will be placed where the company needs you not where your interests lie. There is no career/employee development plans, and if you get ahead on your project you will placed on random assignments not remotely related to your background. Very limited opportunities to move around within the company, so you better enjoy your dpt. for years.

-Culture: Rather contentious - there seems to be some bad blood left from the large lay-offs several years ago still lingering in the air. Some of the techs are really hard to work with (probably a result of being worked like dogs for too long). Not many people are really into the company or product, just there for a paycheck it seems or if they're really into aviation. Communication and teamwork across design groups is severely lacking and dysfunctional - it's usually who gets there first wins, not necessarily the best design bc of the time crunch everyone's working under. Engineering management can be very difficult to work with, would recommend working with the airframe structure groups as their leads are more hands on and provide better guidance. There is seldom praise for a job well done from engineering management, and a weird amount of overly-critical feedback for such a inexperienced team (you'd be surprised how a positive/fun work environment can influence ppl's work quality). Employees are skittish about potential lay-offs if Caiga milestones are not met or after the jet program is completed.

-Process: There is large lack of oversight in the engineering and design process, and young engineers are thrown to the wolves and have to make engineering calls that could be very detrimental long-term. Unsafe design practices are not uncommon and a majority of employees would probably not feel safe flying in this aircraft. Very much a cowboy-shooting from the hip environment.

Re-cap: if you're fresh out of school or really into aviation this could get a good start to get some experience, and then move on to a company that treats their employees better.

Advice to Sr. Mgmt:
Life/jobs are full of challenges, it's how you react to these and how you treat your employees on a day to day basis that differentiate your company from the rest, retain talent, and inspire people to create great products.

I recently had the opportunity to work at Cirrus, and I must say, my experience was far from positive. While the company has potential, several key issues made my time there frustrating.

First and foremost, the management seemed disorganized and out of touch with the team's needs. Communication was often unclear, leading to confusion about project priorities and deadlines. It felt like we were constantly putting out fires instead of working towards a cohesive goal.

The work environment was another concern. While the office space itself was nice, the overall atmosphere was tense. There was a lack of collaboration and support among team members, which made it difficult to foster a sense of community. It often felt like everyone was just trying to survive their day rather than thriving together.

Additionally, I found the lack of opportunities for professional growth disappointing. Despite being promised career development programs, they were rarely implemented, leaving many employees feeling stagnant and undervalued.

Overall, while Cirrus has some attractive qualities, my experience left me feeling disillusioned. I believe the company needs to seriously address its management practices and foster a more supportive work culture if it wants to retain talent and improve employee satisfaction.

Working 4-10's with Fri generally off. You work up to sick time and vacation, but if line shuts down they force you to use your acquired time, you planned for a family vacation, too bad.
Pay is low for high pressure, no failure, aerospace position, which does not provide for living standards in the area, many take a part time second job to meet bills.
Leadership is forward looking, but lacks the knowledge of the lines to anticipate issues, whereas daily trial and error is the approach and every unit is repaired and altered, sad for a million dollar item.
There is little department advancement and most find advancement by leaving. 50% are not happy and actively looking for a better pay day and leaving. When I first started there where great quality co-workers coming in, now there are so few that apply and those that come into the line are just workers.
If someone would care to understand that there is a limited pool of quality workers in this area and that with a little more pay and attention they have the potential to be a great place to work.

I will start out and say the job itself was great. But unfortunately with the lack of training, quality control, and blatant lack of knowledge  from the supervisors made it very stressful. I really wanted this to be my long-term career path but the disrespect and procrastination from supervisors when it came to training and moving forward in the company almost made it impossible. Now I've heard in other departments it was better. The area I was in sadly was a mess. Constant changing of leads/supervisors made it impossible to track your progress effectively which leads to being underpaid and under appreciated.  The disorganization between departments in the same building was just embarrassing  leading to so much wasted time just moving or fixing things another department did because no one would communicate or plan before hand. Overall I believe if there was some better leadership and understanding of what is going on in that particular building the job would be great, but as of now its negatives far outweigh the perks of working there. 

Cirrus's 10-hour days already make for a long day. Any day of the week you might end up working even a 16-hour day without warning. Don't expect to get an extra break other than the 2 paid breaks and 30-minute unpaid lunch either! Leaving work on Thursday, thinking it's the end of your work day, you might have to come in the next day, no matter what plans you'd made because it was supposed to be your day off. If you don't have responsibilities at home, that sort of unpredictability and lack of respect for you as a person might still work for you. Don't expect your PTO requests to be responded to for well over a week either. If you'd like management to keep you informed, so that you know why decisions are being made the way they are, you'll be very disappointed. The first and almost only priority is to get planes built, but it's at the employee's expense. Cirrus does pay more than many entry-level jobs, but they'r going to have to do a whole lot more before they're doing right for the employee!

I've never been micromanaged so much my life. I worked in the same position for almost 3 years and was at expert proficiency in my area but the supervisor could not allow anything to be done without his opinion to be hear on it. Normally this would be fine except for  the supervisor knew nothing what actually was done in the day-to-day tasks just yelled belittle  and blamed whenever problems arose , never tried to figure out the source of them or to see if they were avoidable. Numerous complains in meetings with HR about him just to be simply told that's just how so-and-so is and you got deal with it.  He pushed out a good lead  who was very hardworking so that he could have his friend become area lead  and the friend knew nothing of the day-to-day operations also and all the techs were left to pick up the slack work that was being done by the previous lead. 

You would think that an aircraft manufacturing company would be process driven, nope..  I would say every aircraft is built differently than the air craft before and after.  Zero process - zero repeatability.  Cirrus doesn't work smart, they throw labor at issues then when they miss schedule for the 10th time, they yell at the production workers.  Cirrus has way too many managers, they do not work as a team at all.  I know of a director that would cry everyday because she had know idea what she was doing..  Not a clue!

Cirrus should listen to the employees that have worked for world class companies in the past.  Learn how to implement modern manufacturing methods.  Validate the different systems.  The "good ole boy" culture is really bringing Cirrus down..

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great Benefits. If you got lucky and were placed at a job you enjoyed doing the employment is great 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Never knowing your final dead line before the plane moved to the next station. To many variables.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Could be a lot better.  Management does not listen to their technicians. I believe if the two worked better together they would have a better positive out come. And with that the culture would be 100% better. Work environment is what you make of it. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Some days are great and some days are not. It is production so you really don't have two days alike.  Building planes are very complex and it only takes one monkey wrench to make a good day go south .

What is the best part of working at the company?
The overtime…. the understanding that “life” happens, and personal time can be taken without worry about loosing your job. If you do loose your job…. you will get PLENTY of warnings so if it happens… it won’t be a surprise. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Knowing that even if you make it to a leadership position… you really are o my a glorified supervisor which in return…. you just make your supervisor happy that’s all you need to worry about.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Feelings over facts. if your facts hurt feelings, you better keep your facts  to yourself.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
go… go…..go….. never enough time in 
 the day. personally, i liked that.

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