mechanic

instructor

software engineer

engineer

field representative

General Dynamics Land Systems

So the pay! Is probably one of the highest paying jobs in the Killeen/cove area. The work is fairly easy but involves ALOT of heavy lifting I mean it’s a tank not an aluminum F150. The employees there are the best part of the company I’ve never laughed so much at a job! The supervisor are hit and miss they are either good to work for or absolutely horrible. Above the managers you won’t really see at all.  So the not so good in my opinion if you take this job realize that you are at the mercy of the government or government entities. If they loose a contract and you are a contractor you get chopped first. The performance rating scale is absolute trash! It depends on how much the super likes you and not really your job performance. The HR office seems to be in absolute shambles and unable to accomplish minimal tasks such as paying your per Diem in a timely manor. DO NOT TAKE this job if you are not willing to TRAVEL! If you like being in the military this job is really similar as far as the ideology and flow of information the info passed out to the employees changes daily! I would say about 90% of the employees there are prior service and still get treated like they are in from management. This job is built for people who don’t have families for the most part so if your a single person looking to travel and make a good amount of money this jobs for you. All in all it’s not a bad place to work. But again it’s the employees that make it enjoyable. 

Orientation/ onboarding was 2 day limited information. There is no training for the position. If you make a mistake you will be walked out the door. Your first 90 days they will put the fear 😨 in you and hold that over your head to never step out of line or lose your job. There is no feeling of belonging or that you as a person are needed to be there. There is no expectation to advance, learn , or to achieve anything. Just maintain. Any new ideas or experience you might bring with you is worthless, your ideas and experience are considered more of a threat than a benefit. There is no review process or ability to advance. This is not a place for a new engineer right out of college nor a seasoned engineer with knowledge and expertise in their field. There is a large division between management and subordinates. There is a large disconnect between this GDLS site an ld all other sites. Disregard for the safety and we'll being of employees. Fall protection is considered a joke, as well as proper PPE. 

Typical workday starts off with a safety briefing and other notes for the day. You are assigned a work partner and a tank, with this assignment you also get a work packet on your tank specifically. The operations in this company are very similar to how operations in a motorpool are ran in the Army. I liked the people I worked with because most were veterans and it felt like i was still a part of the Army. I learned a lot about services and troubleshooting for the M1A2 Sep v2 and the SA. The one thing I didnt like was the advancement from contractor to GD employee was very slow, in the 9 months I worked there I only saw 1 contractor get offered a GD spot. Management was good there is always room for improvement and they gainfully listened when you had suggestions for a smoother operation. There is opportunity to go on the road and work as well which is nice and exciting and helps break up the monotony of everyday work.

This division is a factory that designs and manufactures battle tanks for the U.S. Army, and is largely dependent upon government contracts. Accordingly, its culture is typical of that found in most manufacturing facilities such as the automotive industry.

This company's management is bloated with micro managers and individuals who are largely unproductive and nonessential. Under my department, we had a department head who displayed no appreciation for outstanding job performance and discouraged it being recognized, thus encouraging mediocrity. It was a challenge for me to perform my duties in an intrusive environment with junked typewriters and other obsolete equipment while the Marketing Department had the benefit of computers and Word Processors to do comparable work that was not of the same caliber. Opportunities for advancement were very limited as well.

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) as a whole is a Customer First attitude. Make sure that we provide quality products to meet or exceed the customer's requirements / expectations.

There are various continual training throughout the year to improve upon our skill sets.

We work a 9 day / 80 hour work schedule which gives us every other Friday off. This helps us set up dentist, doctor, etc appointments on those off Fridays.

There are always new programs starting up, which makes working here exciting. There is always something new to learn.

This is a team-based environment where everyone helps each other out to get the job done on-time.

High sense of pride providing products to our soldiers.

This is a place that should be a great place to work for veterans, but fails on many points.  There are/were military retirees, multiple service branch veterans and even men who earned a Purple Heart serving on the same type of vehicles they were working on. We had mechanics on the floor who were in their 60's and 70's still firing on all eight cylinders, good men doing their part to ensure that our nation's finest had equipment maintained in top notch condition so that when they were in some of the world's hottest spots, they had a better chance of making it home in one piece to their loved ones. That being said, the management is atrocious, pure and simple.  Many times, excellent employees were ground down to the point where they just quit rather than be degraded any longer and management didn't hesitate to create bad employee reviews in order to have a "legitimate" reason to offload employees.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It's a well-established company that carries a lot of weight.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Supervisors who are terrible Supervisors.  I really believe many of the ones I saw and interacted with were recipients / victims of the Peter Principle.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Aside from terrible supervisors, management seemed to be ok.  In fact, I was impressed with how the managers actually recognized skills and talent and sought to foster them both.  They were also unbiased when dealing with local problems where they addressed the problem, not the person.  Kudos to on-site management!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive at work, spend 30 minutes reiewing the lesson plan for the day and if there weren't any staff meetings, we'd start instruction delivery.

Develop proposals, interface with foreign and domestic customers, Manage budgets for overseas operations. Every day was a new project. 

Learned to develop and manage personnel, deal with foreign and domestic customers on a one to one basis, work within the various cultures with associated mores. Present plans and prposals in front ohigh ranking government and foreign officials including Royalty.

I worked with a great group of very intelligent and self motivated people rthough my entire 46years of employment. Management strived to create an atmosphere of strong work ethics, teamwork, quality and professionalism.

No part of the job was to hard as it was always a challenge and therefore enjoyable. The job required creativity and meeting schedules to develop materials to present to the customer at formal presentations.

CEO is doing her part and paying herself handsomely while the folks in GDLS and specifically Tallahassee site get no to extremely low annual performance increases. Its a good Ol' boy management culture that practices favoritism in the workplace starting at the top. GDLS Tallahassee Management needs a Top Down overhaul and not one pushed from Sterling Heights Corp. Office. Bring in an outside Sr. Management Team with up to date Management experience leadership skills and a thorough understanding of Best Business/Manufacturing Management Practices to include Lean to the bottom line thinking and driving by true and measurable KPI's that can be confirmed in P/L.

As of now, a typical day of work starts with a review of email from management with goals of the day and where we stand with production. Next I would schedule out what needs to be completed and in what order they need to be done to meet objectives. I have learned that setting daily objectives has helped me to become more organized and work better under pressure. My immediate manager is a great man to work for, but his bosses are less than desirable at times. Most of my co-workers in other departments are great people. I have learned that I have to take up most of the slack in my position and regularly double check behind the work of others in my realm. It gets very frustrating at times to be doing the work of two or more people by yourself. I do love the interactions with co-workers, but the best part of the day is quiting time.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mechanic 11 salaries reported	$33.41 per hour
Instructor 7 salaries reported	$35.33 per hour
Software engineer 3 salaries reported	$110,833 per year
Engineer 6 salaries reported	$92,067 per year
Field representative 2 salaries reported	$92,100 per year

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