quality engineer

quality assurance inspector

quality assurance engineer

production technician

mechanical engineer

First-Rf-Corporation

It certainly is NOT what you know but really WHO you know at FIRST RF to get hired and promoted!

It is not uncommon when starting a company to build it with talent from those you know either from a job relationship or schooling. When the company grows and matures and takes on additional responsibilities it is their legal and ethical responsibility to recruit for new talent through "open" posted positions.  As a Government Contractor FIRST RF should be recruiting through any and all resources available. Though I have seen some of this recruiting take place but their effort needs much improvement. I have seen way too much hiring of friends and family continue even at the size they have grown too regardless of their knowledge in RF or Dept. areas. Promoting the under qualified because they are friends with spouses etc seems to be way of FIRST while those with talent remain stuck and go no where except out the door!.

Along with hiring their friends, family members and former work associates they continue to keep these poorly qualified employees in positions that nearly don't exist while other talented staff remain stuck in positions and go nowhere but out the door.

There is such greed to win win win every contract they bid for regardless if they have staff to design and build the technology or how hard people need to work to achieve their greedy goals. This greed has cost the company millions to pay back the government from price inflation.

In the early days, it was challenging, diverse and fun to work at FIRST but those days are long gone.

After working at other companies as well, I find the work environment at FIRST RF to be rewarding and challenging.  The staff is knowledgeable in a wide range of electrical and mechanical engineering subjects, and are genuinely excited about design.
  
This is a fast-paced company with a wide variety of projects running at any given time, so it definitely matches best with people that can multitask and who are driven to learn on the fly when they run into an unfamiliar problem.
  
Variety and a close-knit team of several engineering disciplines make this an interesting place to work.  The upper management are experienced engineers, so the company has an overall enthusiasm about technology and designing products that actually make a difference for the end user.

This is not a bad place to work, it just isn't a great one. The culture is very "engineer" centric. Meaning if you are an engineer you are valued, is not you seem to be viewed as highly replaceable. Their business systems are not appropriate to the size of the company but the expense, and productivity increase, of these systems do not directly enhance the engineering capabilities so management views them as frivolous and unnecessary.
That being said it is not a bad place to work. They do not expect you to live at work and it is a friendly environment. The benefits, other than salary, are very generous and they at least pay lip service to caring about their employees.
If you are looking to work in a small business and not looking for upward mobility (unless you are an engineer, there are opportunities for them) this would be a good landing place for you.

I've worked at FIRST RF for a couple of years now and only have good things to say. First, they are extremely flexible, not only with work hours and location, but also in terms of meeting you where you're at in life e.g. will understand if you need to focus on classes for a couple of months, just had a baby or other big life event, etc. Second, you are not simply a cog there; you can choose your own adventure and take on any breadth of work at any level that you can handle. Third, it is great to be a part of a small company that makes as huge impact; they're often pinned against the giant military tech companies and always blow them out of  the water. An engineer of any level will have something to learn there.

I worked there for 18 months and enjoyed going I to work.  Great schedule for home life. Start earning vacation first paycheck.  Company is closed during the Christmas to New Years and they have moved some holidays around, so you get paid.  You get 200 hrs a year of paid vacation plus the Christmas break.  
Training is a daily thing, and supervision is close by to help and teach.  The items we build can be technical and tedious, but well worth the effort

There isn't much positive to say about this first rf. It was once a great company that created products that really helped people. Since then the owners made a good amount of money, and everything went south.

It is now a company that is obsessed with profits for the family that owns it. They consistently pay their employees badly and consistently overwork them. No profits are shared, and if you do good work, you get more work.

The one great thing about the company is that is located in Boulder. The less great thing is that you will never be paid enough to live in Boulder.

From their website:
FIRST RF is an advanced technologies company specializing in antennas and radio frequency (RF) systems. We are an energetic team of expert engineers empowered with world-class facilities and resources. We promote a culture which prioritizes exceptionalism, innovation, creativity, collaboration, and quality. 

As a product-focused company, we provide our customers with concept-to-deployment support through two complementary divisions: FIRST RF Technologies Division and FIRST RF Products Division.

Design and build antennas for a multitude or government vehicles and products. Learned all about radio frequency technologies and designing antennas. Management was very hands on and always able to assist. Co-workers were fun and helpful with everything. Hardest part of the job was tuning antennas to the exact desired frequency. Most enjoyable part was working in the antenna range and the basketball and volleyball.

First RF was a  fantastic company to work for!! Offered a great work life balance, took care of all employees fairly (permanent and temp). Showed employees appreciation in a multitude of ways, that really made me feel wanted and acknowledged If they would not have been forced to lay off more than half of the staff i see myself still employed by them. .

Interesting and challenging work in a growing company.  There are less resources at a smaller company so you must be willing to do what it takes to get it done.  There is less structure so you have flexibility without crazy bureaucracy.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Quality engineer 1 salary reported	$67,500 per year
Quality assurance inspector 1 salary reported	$30.05 per hour
Quality assurance engineer 2 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Production technician 1 salary reported	$27.50 per hour
Mechanical engineer 1 salary reported	$110,000 per year

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