software engineer

senior software engineer

product support

software engineer intern

design engineer

Garmin

People tend to be friendly at Garmin. You get decent benefits (health insurance, dental, vision, 401(k), onsite fitness facilities). Bonuses are pretty standard and rigid with everyone generally getting the same amount regardless of tenure, performance, company profits, etc. - on average throughout my 17+ years there, we'd almost always get $200-$300 as our bonus at the end of the year. The company seems loathe to actually give associates monetary perks, opting as much as possible for little gestures like a "celebration" for campus expansion, local sports teams doing well, etc. where you get a speech from the CEO and a cupcake or something along those lines. It's nice, and non-monetary compensation definitely has a place, but Garmin leans heavily on it.

I worked at Garmin for 17+ years, starting out in the entry-level position in Cartography (which requires a college degree), then being promoted up to where I eventually ended up as a Team Leader. Yet despite being there that long and being promoted multiple times, having numerous additional responsibilities, losing other Team Leaders (and having to take on additional team members and duties as a result), having to sacrifice personal time, consistently being under stress, etc., when I left employment there, I was still making less than an entry-level software engineer - I was paid in the $60K-$65K range.


"Hard work" to my particular former manager meant putting work first at all times, and if you're going through tough personal times, that's just tough - you need to suck it up and do your work. And I actually did this for much of my 17+ years working there. But when I finally met my now-wife a few years ago, I started being more judicious with my time spent at work. I'd still work extended hours and occasionally work after hours from home, just not as much as I once would have. But my former boss would still regularly suggest coming in on a weekend to try and catch up when I fell behind, rather than take seriously that each of the Team Leaders was swimming in too much work, while continuing to have even more piled on top. Sure, my former boss made sure to say that work/life balance was important in that conversation, but it was clearly implied that I needed to do whatever was needed to catch up. My regular meetings with him would also commonly involve him asking questions that I wouldn't know how to answer, such as how something was behind. I would answer honestly that I had prioritized other things, which were more time-sensitive for the company's benefit (e.g. - crucial tasks for the timely release of products) or for the good of team members (i.e. - feedback on their performance, providing guidance, etc.), but he oftentimes made it seem like that wasn't a good enough answer.

I left employment there by being fired with no notice in the middle of July 2020, for what I was initially told was "dishonesty." Here's what happened, if you're curious. Due to the amount of work needing to be done, I was behind on completing certain reports that were for the use of the other Team Leaders in my group. The information contained in these reports is not something hidden from the others though, and they had the ability to view that information if needed on their own if they needed it, so it was prioritized below other, more pressing tasks and duties. There's a variety of reports needing to be completed, including some time-consuming ones. I was up-to-date on some (let's call those "A reports"), others I was behind on ("B reports"), and others I was further behind on ("C reports"). 

When my boss asked how "reports" were coming along, it generally meant one type of report that I had a history of being behind on - the "B reports." I told him how they were behind and after discussing it, I reprioritized them to make sure they got done as soon as possible. While putting together my list of reports needed a day or two later, I realized I was even further behind on other reports though - "C reports," which hadn't been specifically discussed. When my boss found out about the status of the "C reports" by being CC'd on an email from a fellow Team Leader about them (a common tactic employed by the Team Leaders at my former boss's urging after we would tell him about some issue or another, to allow him to then have discussions directly with whomever the email was to) we discussed them and set a timeframe for them to be completed as well, even though I had already started to reprioritize them and work through them. I was open and honest about their status in that meeting and when he asked why I hadn't mentioned them beforehand, I said that I hadn't even been thinking of the "C reports" when we would discuss "how the reports were going" because we had been focused on discussing the "B reports" and I had no warning before the meetings that we'd discuss them (otherwise, I'd have brought a list). He said he believed that I wasn't trying to hide anything - and I wasn't. I had been behind before and pride myself on always being open about it. 

Two weeks after our discussion, I was fired without any warning. The reports were almost completely caught up at the time of my firing as well; I had completed all of the "B reports" and I believe I had about 10 minutes left of work on the remaining "C reports" before the last one would have been done (the equivalent of being 98-99% done). In the meeting where I was fired, I was told that it was because I was dishonest and that I hid the reports being behind schedule, and it was implied I outright lied about them. I spoke up in the meeting to clarify that I had discussed with my boss that these reports were simply not on my mind when he'd asked how "the reports" were going. He agreed in the meeting and said that he didn't think I was lying. And yet I was fired for it. I was later given a more thought out response from HR as to the reason behind my firing, saying it was because I wasn't forthcoming about these reports being behind. Regardless, after 17+ years of giving of my free time, my personal life, giving up my vacation time because something was needed in the office, doing the best job I could, developing relationships with all those with whom I worked, etc., I was gotten rid of, in the middle of a pandemic and without being able to even say goodbye to everyone. 

Yes, obviously I am bitter. I'm much better off now without this job, the constant stress, the need to take numerous anti-anxiety medications, the need to seek therapy every week, etc., and I am in the midst of completely changing careers, but I'm still bitter that the reason for my termination was seemingly because I was a liar. And to top it all off, my former boss wanted to shake my hand at the end of the meeting in which I was fired.

When I began at Garmin, things were very relaxed and everyone was there for each other and the customer.  The benefits were amazing, pay was fair, and co workers were fun.

Then I moved into a supervisory role and that started out great as well.  Slowly however, it became apparent that the management team was completely disengaged with what was happening out on the production floor and became very heavy handed in how they wanted things done.  At first, metrics were used as coaching tools.  Then the metrics became the entire job and the front line associates felt like they were being micro managed.  This led to a mass exodus of quality employees to other jobs in the company or leaving all together.  The managers pointed the finger at the supervisors.  This eventually led to a complete shake up in the management team, new director, new managers (demotion of previous director and manager) and things seemed to be heading in a positive direction.  

Unfortunately the current director has a very vague idea of what support should be (as he has NO experience running a customer service organization) and has gone to the opposite extreme.  No metrics, supervisors are just supposed to "know" who is doing well by the management standards that change seemingly daily.  That also assumes that the manager communicates the change in goals, which in my case rarely happened.  My peer and I would find out about changes from others in similar roles and when our manager was asked, he'd respond with "oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you guys that".  

My manager, like the new director, had zero experience in dealing with customer service because he is an engineer.  And his idea of collaboration and team work hinge on the notion that you do what he says when he says it (right or wrong).  If you try to raise valid concerns or point out the flaws of his proposals, you were labeled as a dark cloud and a "problem".  While that is bad enough, my manager does not address things he feels are an issue immediately, but practices what I like to call "ambush management" and lump 6 months of perceived slights into one giant sucker punch when it does get addressed.

As a result of the lack of direction, my segment is again seeing high turnover as people are looking to get out.  There is a career path matrix that requires associates to meet certain criteria AND be in their current role for 2 years minimum.  This leads to no true dynamic growth opportunities for new or old associates as they literally are stuck in their current roles until the mandatory time is up or they move on.  Great performance means nothing without the time.

It is truly sad that support is being ruined by the current leadership.  I'm sad to see my team go and miss out on the benefits, but I am not going to miss the stress of trying to read the management teams mind through their closed office door.

If you are considering a role in product support, be it associate or supervision, be wary.  I truly hope at some point they figure it out, but right now it's a rudderless ship with no true direction and a dead end for most.

I was extremely excited when I was offered the job to work here. I've been using Garmin GPS units for a long time - probably since 3rd grade - and use one almost every day for hiking or geocaching. However, my excitement was dashed on the first or second day. I thought I was going to be working with like-minded individuals. Instead, I found that most of my Cartography co-workers had never even used a Garmin let alone live an outdoor lifestyle. It's obvious that my fellow Cartography Technicians would much rather drink and party every night and carry on their college habits. But, enough about them.

The job is rather pointless, monotonous, and repetitive. As another reviewer stated, any errors we find in the data after the first two weeks of Quality Assurance are usually said to be too small to fix. We basically spend two weeks looking for major errors - many of which we aren't allowed to correct and must be passed on to Engineering or the data vendor - and then four weeks noting all other errors and ensuring routing works the way it should. Repeat this four times a year for each product and the job gets old real quick!

Management in Cartography is horrible. Mainly just people who have been here the longest. They don't have management training so don't expect much. There are three cartography groups: Automotive, Marine, and Recreation. Each group is led by a group manager and is broken into teams. Each team has a team leader, a senior cartographer, and a couple of cartography technicians. The group manager almost always has ZERO cartography experience and is brought in from the Engineering side. The team leaders are promoted just because they have been here longest but have no hope of reaching Group manager status. The senior cartographers are promoted based on tenure as well but, as long as the team leaders have no promotion potential, neither do the senior cartographers or the cartography technicians.

The starting pay for a Cartography Technician is $14.50 regardless of what type of experience you have - a Masters degree, several internships, etc. At the same time, engineering INTERNS are paid well over $20/hr. Combine the lack of pay, lack of respect (we're JUST cartography), and lack of promotion potential and you get the high turnover rate that's present in Cartography. Within the first six months I was here at Garmin, four Cartography Technicians quit and moved on. Since then, five or six more have quit and there's always talk about who's going to be the next one to escape.

The best part of the job is having a .75-mile walking path to enjoy during breaks and the fact that Garmin pays for team and individual sports (they'll pay your entrance fee to marathons and a couple triathlons each year). The 32% discount on almost every product also isn't bad and they even add an additional discount to certain products at special times of the year (Dad's and Grad's, Christmas, etc.).

I love Garmin's products and I'm sure I'll continue to buy them when my time here is over but I DON'T recommend working in Cartography.

As an employee at Garmin, I have had the privilege of working for a company that truly excels in the field of navigation and technology. One of the standout aspects of Garmin is its commitment to innovation. Our company is at the forefront of GPS technology and constantly pushes the boundaries to deliver cutting-edge products and services. 
Garmin invests heavily in research and development, allowing employees like me to work on exciting projects that shape the future of navigation. This commitment to innovation not only benefits our customers but also provides a stimulating and dynamic work environment for employees.

At Garmin, collaboration is highly valued. Teamwork is an integral part of our culture, and I've had the opportunity to work alongside incredibly talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. The company fosters an inclusive and supportive atmosphere that encourages sharing ideas, knowledge, and expertise. This collaborative approach has helped me grow both professionally and personally, as I constantly learn from my peers and contribute to the collective success of our projects.

Another aspect that sets Garmin apart is its unwavering dedication to quality. Our products are known for their reliability, accuracy, and durability. The company places great emphasis on rigorous testing and quality control, ensuring that we deliver only the best to our customers. Being part of a company that prioritizes quality gives me immense pride, as I know our work has a real impact on people's lives and their trust in our brand.

In terms of work-life balance, Garmin strives to create an environment that promotes employee well-being. The company recognizes the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life integration and provides flexible work arrangements, competitive benefits, and opportunities for professional development. This approach allows employees to maintain a good balance between their personal and professional lives, leading to higher job satisfaction and overall happiness.

As with any organization, there are areas where Garmin can continue to improve. Communication and transparency could be enhanced, ensuring that information flows smoothly across different teams and departments. Additionally, while the company invests significantly in innovation, it's important to maintain a focus on consumer trends and evolving market demands to stay ahead of the competition.

Overall, working at Garmin has been a rewarding experience. The company's commitment to innovation, collaboration, and quality creates an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. Garmin is a company that genuinely cares about its employees, customers, and the products it creates. I feel fortunate to have been part of such a forward-thinking and customer-centric organization.

Pros:
good benefits, 
good products,
Below are strictly for ERP IT -
good to start your career,
good if you are in your final years of retirement and don't have any drive left for work,
good if you have passion for something else besides the work, you will get lots of time to follow your personal life goals, 
salary is not great but average based on the market
If you are below mediocre at analytical skills and the ERP knowledge; just want to come at 9 and leave at 4.30; do not have any passion for work, then this is the right Company and great team (ERP) for you. 
If you are a good analyst then they will keep you as an analyst for rest of your life, but if you are pathetic as an analyst then you will get promoted if you can JUST do the talking

Cons:
These cons are strictly for ERP IT-
No growth opportunity for the deserving candidates,
All the managers suck up to the management so if you have different opinion you will be shut down
80% of the ERP Managers don't know the ERP system so if you are good a good ERP Analyst then god bless you with your review and growth opportunities
You don't need to know the ERP to grow in your career, you just need to be able to talk in descent English (still there are some managers who don't even speak proper English and suck at managing people which will also make you wonder what got them to that position)
If you are the one who can troubleshoot and fix the issue quickly this is not the company for you
If you don't know Oracle ERP but know how to create the SRs to fix the issue and make it SEV1 and provide visibility to the management. So basically, you took 2 weeks to fix the issue which could have been fixed in half a day by a seasoned analyst. Then you will get recognized and promoted because according to the ERP management he is a team player.
In Each ERP team there will be one or 2 persons doing the actual work and others are just taking the credit or the promotions.
No process to perform anonymous annual evaluation of the management by the subordinates, so managers quality sucks big time. 
Promotion is done based on the tenure instead of the performance, so potential employees think twice before joining. Join if you have no other options or need visa.

Management Advice:
Value hard working and passionate people and create growth opportunities.
Else you will have below mediocre people working in whole ERP team or at most 1 or 2 people doing real work and sucking it up due to VISA constraints but not happy and waiting for Green Card to quit.
Encourage the environment where people can speak freely and not yes to everything that management says.
Perform yearly anonymous evaluation of all the managers by their subordinates.
Hire good managers and the ones who can speak at least basic English, so that they can do fair evaluation of their subordinates.

Garmin paints the picture that they're a good company to work for, but it's just that a picture.
This is a terrible company to work for with no job advancement what so ever. If you are in building 5 you are viewed as worthless and stuck their until you leave the company. You will be paid the least amount in the area while other companies continually pay you more.
The management and supervisors seem as lost as anyone else when something goes wrong.
The HR department is a complete dumpster fire and won't provide you any help what so ever in changing positions or anything else work related.
They state its a tobacco free workplace yet there's people who vape in the bathrooms and chew tobacco while on the manufacturing floor.
They CEO makes over a million dollars and year and than gets gifted another 2 million in stocks showing that they don't care about those who are struggling living paycheck to paycheck.
They spent 2 million USD on a winter event that could've been used more to pay your employees especially since the even was lackluster.
Avoid the AOEM department at all cost here the supervisors and higher ups are not knowledgeable and afraid of the employees.
There is no equal opportunity here since they want everyone to have a degree to even look at a Garmin building. Even if you do have a degree they'll ask for a ridiculous amount of experience to go with it.
They do give annual raises but the max you can get is 4% and they actively tell supervisors and managers to not give anyone the max possible raise.
They will send quarterly updates about how great the company is doing with profits yet for all of the employees hard work you get nothing.
The work culture isn't the greatest either, you have a group of guys who will be creeps and stare at the women here and even knowing their names without ever meeting. They'll also judge the guys about what they wear too.
We're all trying to live here and with the cost everything going up Garmin would rather see you starve.

• A typical day at work: Usually no less than five or six separately-trained tasks over the course of a day. Some multi-tasking, but well within reason most of the time.

• What I learned: Many interesting aspects of SMT assembly and Garmin's product line, brushed up on electronic assembly skills, mainly manual soldering and wave machine operation.

• Workplace culture: Civil and reasonable. Apart from some isolated instances of "office politics" (a resentful senior assembly worker who was about to retire, thus immune to any consequences of "throwing people under the bus," and an emotionally unstable test technician with territorial issues) it's ordinarily a very pleasant place to work, with supervisory staff quite approachable most of the time.

• The hardest part of the job: In the final months prior to being discharged for seeking permanent employment elsewhere, working with the knowledge that it would never be more than a temporary position.

• The most enjoyable part of the job: generally pleasant co-workers, a low-stress environment (usually) and always something new to learn about the process.

• Management: Generally rational, sensible and easy to work with, but not forthcoming about their intentions with regard to hiring. A supervisor who gives hiring preference to a 19-year-old (brought aboard as a temp several months after myself) on the basis of being friends with that candidate's father, should at least make the effort to come up with a more imaginative explanation than "your résumé got lost in the shuffle."

The VP's of each department are so behind the times on employee relations and company management.  The VP of HR openly admits she is so disconnected from the processes of the company that she isn't sure how the department is run: she relies solely on the reports from her Team Leads.  
Advancement is based more on who has become the favorite more than it is who has the skills.  Because the VP's are so closed minded (meaning they believe their way is the only way to reach a solution) the Team Leads and other management acts the same.  They hire in new talent to solve problems and build the company, but if those new thoughts and ideas don't fit with the old model of "this is how we've always done it" then your thoughts/ideas won't be considered.  New "career paths" have been created, but these career paths limit your advancement rather than expand the opportunities.  One absolutely must be in a certain position for a specific amount of time before advancing to another specific position; zero deviation from the "advancement" path is allowed.
The employees within the company are so talented, but it is quickly losing this talent and skill due to the blindness of the upper management.  One large problem is the upper management admits, again openly, that they believe online reviews of a company are just disgruntled employees "venting".  They still think that if an employee was so dissatisfied with their place of business they would seek help from HR.  HR is a road block.  Any "help" sought within that department soon leads to your departure...most often involuntary,  

When I applied and began working at Garmin, I was really hopeful that I would be given a fair shake. I was open about prior bad experiences. I was hoping for good work life balance, culture, and opportunities to prove myself / for career growth. I think most Garmin employees are overly optimistic and enthusiastic about working for Garmin. They accidentally sell you that this is some magical place. It isn't, at least not for everyone. 

Garmin has a lot of the same slimy corporate feel of other large names without the advantage of being more organized and regimented. There's a lot of doublethink about work life balance. In one sentence management will say you should prioritize your health if you need to and yet they're sending weekly status updates to an entire group of engineers about the latest new product that they're trying to cram through the regulatory hoops within the next 3 months eventhough the scope is too large to accomplish in that timeframe.
They will say there's opportunity for growth or that innovation is important, but hiring is flat and upper management complains about R&D costs at every opportunity.
They will say "thank you for your hard work" and then immediately ask you to be more efficient.
At the same time, Garmin uses a ton of proprietary tools for their software development and doesn't offer a lot of sector-specific training. So there's not a lot of skill transfer if you want to strike out somewhere else.

If you get sucked in as an intern then you may not notice this until you're kind of trapped in busy work using proprietary tools day in and day out. 

Garmin has the same positives and negatives that many other large companies do. Don't be fooled into thinking it's paradise just because of a shiny 12.5% 401k match.

So basically day one you set through an orientation and take a tour of the building you won’t ever go to this orientation is directly directed towards the employees at what I like to call the White House or Building 3 they feed you and tell you about yoga, ping pong tournaments, the great cafeteria, volleyball, the gym, taking walks, the importance of being able to relax and Gary and Mings vision of a happy work environment. Smoke and mirrors is all they’re telling you if you’re a warehouse employee it’s two completely different worlds and you’re an absolute number in the warehouse or building 5 and you learn that quickly. Typically it’s very easy money though I will say I’ve never seen more of a failure in a system than their warehouse so a lot of milk time so bring your cookies but they’re starting to veer towards an Amazon warehouse environment and regime. But the difference is the people who run the warehouse appear to be a little to small for their britches and aren’t built for management especially after the money they hemorrhaged in 2019 with unnecessary overtime that pushed them way beyond their budget but building 3 is out of sight so they assume everything is necessary which is really not absolutely no more production was made with their large amounts of overtime than if everybody would’ve been sent home on time. Also everything sounds great like they care about their employees which they care about the big boy building employees but theirs a lot of fine print that you learn that makes you realize you’re a number in the warehouse unlike what they promote your worth is during the orientation. Proceed with caution is all I can say.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 35 salaries reported	$100,720 per year
Senior software engineer 41 salaries reported	$114,230 per year
Product support 4 salaries reported	$18.25 per hour
Software engineer intern 15 salaries reported	$31.80 per hour
Design engineer 7 salaries reported	$86,786 per year

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