software engineer

senior software engineer

field service engineer

territory sales engineer

manufacturing engineer

Cognex Corporation

I worked in a cell with other recently graduated engineers. It was basically like a shark tank. Everyone wanted to show off what they figured out or how they fixed a problem hoping that that would get them an engineering position at the company but time and time again they decided to hire engineers outside of the company to fill open positions.

They hold the possibility of being converted from contractor to actual employee over your head so you'll try harder but in the end they are just using you to work a couple more hours or take on another project to help them out. They told me I would be converted from contractor to actual employee and that they were working on it, after 6 months of "working on it" I realized it was all a lie. I even assisted with the aquisisition of a company in Collorado where I went out there for 2 weeks (mind you I live and work in Massachusetts), came back and then went out there for another week and when they asked me to go again and I refused unless they made me an actual employee so I could get benefits such as vacation, sick time, 401k, and job security. They have a cafeteria where actual employee get a reduced price on their food and free breakfast. It is demoralizing to be a contractor at Cognex. All it takes is 1 mistake or 1 bad day and you could find yourself out of a job.

Overall I'm greatful for what I learned while I was there but ultimately it was just a stepping stone to get me to my next job. The company culture is great for younger people but when everyone you're working with wants the be converted to permanent or move up to engineering just as much as you do it creates a toxic environment.

Cognex's continuous record-breaking growth motivates the Work Hard/Move Fast portion of the company agenda; a typical day is full of meetings with key internal customers, and the resulting action lists can be very exciting, if time consuming and difficult to implement (that's half the fun, though- create the solution!).
Cognex is a great home for learning and development, and fun thrown in the mix- the celebration of the annual report every year, and the Halloween event are two all-out celebrations of wacky fun and style- by far the most enjoyable part of the job.
Cognex management is key to the driven growth and continual success over the past several years, and works hard to ensure that Cognoids set the right goals and make the right choices on their journey- as with any company, these can shift and definitely tend to grow throughout every year.
The hardest part of the job is the continuous drive to Work Hard and Move Fast without burning oneself out; not an easy task, and the only  consideration for major downfall for this employee-- it would require a solid fit in a new company that strongly encourages work/life balance, while still embracing the Work Hard/Play Hard/Move Fast culture at Cognex to encourage a departure from Cognex.

Where to begin. 

The assigned work often made no sense, and was dolled out by managers in far away offices offering little or no help in understanding what the larger objectives were or how to be efficient in convoluted, badly documented code bases. It never felt like I had the tools I needed to succeed 

The yearly review process was badly explained, and I was left with the impression that the reviews were often manipulated to give pretense to layoffs that were long planned, but only sprung on the effected parties at the last minute. It never seemed like the work had much to do with the reviews that were written.

The culture is weird. The people were all good in person, but sometimes we got treated to cringe inducing skits performed by upper management (some of whom try to be a good sport, but are obviously not enjoying it). 

Many of the best from senior management have jumped ship, and if you look at the stock filings, you can find the names of the remaining management who have recently dumped large amounts of stock. 

I never felt like I was given the tools or help that I needed to succeed.

I get the feeling that this might have been a good place to work once upon a time, but don't apply unless you are looking for a place to punch a timecard for a year or two until they get around to the next round of layoffs.

Cognex is not a good place to start employment. Management at Cognex lacks experience in running a Distribution Company. The Head of the Distribution Company has no real experience. He does not know anything to do with Receiving or Shipping. He is an Office manager, not a Distribution Manager. It is a highly stressful job because employees are fired for personal reasons. The Manager didn't like how some people looked and talked. We had great people work for the Company improving it, but not getting hired within a years time. No support from management team or proper training of staff because all the experienced employees were fired and replaced by people who have NO EXPERIENCE. There is only 1 manager there who has 12 years experience, he should be the 1 to run the Distribution Company. Right now it's a terrible place to work with no Job security, no proper training, no safety training for Contractors at Distribution Center.

I began work at Cognex in 2016 and had one of the most incredible, inspiring managers of my career.  The employee handbook was riddled with elements of the company culture that I loved - for example, shares of company stock for your any child who was born while an employee worked at the company!

Over time there was a growing divide between management and sales and the end result was unrealistic expectations and asks.  It was disheartening to see it go that route.

A typical day at work consists of getting several small tasks from a teck lead who is totally overwhlmed with a project that is the culmination of a bunch of il-concieved ideas.
From my perspective people were getting burned out and not fully listened to. Work hard, play hard, go fast.  For me, the mantra leaves out the concept of becoming proficient and obtaining the capacity to execute before... firing off the rocket.

Someone said "it's not rocket science"  good thing because ther would be a lot of dead astronauts.

Worked at Cognex as a contractor for a year and a half. I was continually promised I’d get full time at some point but that never happened. I got to go to company events for the first few months and they gave us free food and stuff, but that very quickly dissipated when they stopped allowing that for contractors. They finally let me go due to “budget issues” and said they’d bring me back as soon as they could. Never happened. They also contacted me several months later to do UNPAID work for them.

I liked working at Cognex. They have a pretty good work environment and good people all around. Sometimes management/marketing made some questionable choices - but hey, is there a company who doesn’t have any of those? 

Honestly sometimes, in sales, it felt like we were just a number - not even regarding the metric goals/KPI’s, but sometimes if your percent to Quota were a little off it would feel like there wasn’t much understanding. A lot of times you aren’t in full control of what happens and it’s on customers end to send in a PO but it felt like that wasn’t taken into consideration.

Overall I would recommend 

The products are interesting, and often innovative. The people are great, and it's common for "Cognoids" to form lifetime friendships with many of their colleagues. The culture is unique and fun. 

The downside -- and it's a big one, depending on your functional area and level in the company -- is that the internal politics are ever-present and entrenched. This can sometimes lead to great ideas being completely ignored, and great people being underappreciated. People who "talk" the game get promoted, while people who actually drive the business are undervalued.

In my time at Cognex, there were frequent layoffs - some even resulting in entire offices being shut down permanently. Yes, the culture is lax and a ton of fun (social events every other month or so, big Halloween party, sports to play during lunch, etc.) but it's at the risk of being laid off on a random Tuesday. You really feel like a tiny cog in the wheel without any sense of having any significant contribution. Just not a fulfilling place to work unless you're okay with feeling insignificant, but with socials every other month.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 4 salaries reported	$110,250 per year
Senior software engineer 3 salaries reported	$135,000 per year
Field service engineer 1 salary reported	$70,000 per year
Territory sales engineer 4 salaries reported	$69,000 per year
Manufacturing engineer 1 salary reported	$140,000 per year

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