scientist

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structural engineer

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Exponent

Exponent is a consulting firm that prides itself on being the best in the business. An oft heard refrain in the halls is how clients are constantly complaining about the cost of hiring Exponent, but still pay for the quality of results provided. All of the people who do well in this company are the most aggressive and practical academia has to offer. The compensation is alright and the people run the gamut from surly to true friends.

If you are looking to dive deep on any particular project, or perfect a technique to make future work easier, this is not the place to go. The mantra is to do it fast, get it right, and to heck with everything else. Since you bill by the 6 minutes, or half hour if you're less scrupulous, there is never any incentive to automate or optimize any workflow. The management is also super stingy when it comes to equipment, so expect to do things for cheap and like it.

Work-life balance is almost impossible as even senior folks will cancel or fly back from vacations for a last minute inspections or calls, but that is the service industry.

For the right type of person, this place is paradise, and upward advancement will reward them. However, if you don't fit Exponent's mould perfectly, expect to struggle and move out to another Silicon Valley tech company in about 2 years.

Service requests arrive primarily via email.  Supporting consultants under pressure to perform, get results and meet deadlines means pressure on IT staff to keep their systems and the network up and running day and night, weekends and holidays.  The IT department management is very good and supportive.  Consultants work all hours of the day and night and require support all hours of the day and night.  You'll be on call even when not officially on call.  The work culture at the HQ can be rather cut-throat from what I'm told.  The satellite offices each have their own individual personalities.  Working under the pressure to solve issues is standard and working evenings is also common place.  End users are very appreciative of your help.  You are made to feel you are an important part of the company.

Exponent, Inc. has among its many engineering practices a team of largely cognitive psychologists and industrial engineers comprising a human factors unit. As a consulting division, human factors attracts companies seeking guidance on pre-market product design and accompanying literature. Even more typically, human factors is hired to defend corporations and individuals on both product liability and personal injury cases. Consultants at Exponent are expected to rapidly digest and analyze case materials provided by the client, as well as add persuasive analyses to create a work product or prepare an expert witness for court. As human factors cases rely on educated opinions characterizing human behavior, it offers a potentially fulfilling and certainly distinct career choice for a college degree that tends to serve mostly academia.

The people in the office are great. Most very friendly, and almost a family environment. Can't really state what we did, because most work there was confidential. But being a public stock offered company, billable hours are the bottom line. And you had to have enough billable hours to be able to keep your job. Or at least that was always hanging heavy on everyone's shoulders. I enjoyed the people and the work. Especially when I was sent out to their Phoenix location several times. They had a great group of employee's that I really enjoyed working with, and the work out there was really interesting and fun. Miss those times, but grateful that I experienced them.

At Exponent everyone feels important.  There is a real sense of urgency to get the work done and dependency on one another which creates an excellent team work atmosphere.  Being an entry level intern, I did not expect to take on the amount of responsibility that was given to me.  Right from the start I felt as though my talents were being used and that my work was greatly appreciated.  A client based company such as Exponent requires tight deadlines and even tighter work ethic.

The people I worked for and worked with were intelligent, kind, flexible, and hard-working...there is no doubt that the people are great.  What is lacking is the C-suite's ability to recognize the contributions of non-engineers. Exponent is structurally rigid and does not allow for growth if you are an admin. Turnover is high...not just because it is a consulting firm. 

Fast pace job, but exciting. Schedules to meet daily printing and shipping payroll checks for multiple clients. Everyday was a learning process. Working out problems with management and team leaders was never a problem. The clients interest always came first. 
I always looked forward to going to work.
The worst day I had at work was turning in my resignation.

Good company to work for.  Very smart and driven co-workers.  DIY mentality - not a huge amount of technician or admin support.  If you're a real candidate you probably have a PhD (or other terminal degree as most employees do), know that this is not a research job - most of your work will likely be litigation support - make sure you're good with that.

I learned a few things! Management knew what to do if asked about a task! Learned how to improve my soldering skills. The hardest part of the job was working outside in the heat at times. The typical day at work was soldering circuit boards and assembly the associated cables to the boards. Everything was production, the assembly of all components of the final product.

The honeymoon lasts about 2 weeks.

Afterwards extreme pressure is placed on new employees to create billable hours, and management is not happy with 100% billable but pushes for over 150%.   

If you join exponent, suggest you bring clients with you - otherwise select a cardiologist for your future heart attack.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Scientist 98 salaries reported	$133,668 per year
Associate 33 salaries reported	$142,394 per year
Structural engineer 62 salaries reported	$152,210 per year
Senior associate 20 salaries reported	$125,425 per year
Construction consultant 31 salaries reported	$129,435 per year

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