administrative assistant

tower technician

project engineer

mechanic

regional manager

Maxim Crane Works

Maxim Crane Works is one of the top crane rental companies in the United States.  I had quite a great opportunity of interning within their northeast division for three summers from 2011-2013.  Working in the engineering department department taught me many important lessons such as responsibility, customer relations, and cooperation between co-workers.  By my third summer I was helping develop the day to day CAD and technical files for projects around the Pittsburgh area.  On any given day I would be responsible for integrating information from either a dispatcher or salesman as I applied the customer specifications to technical documents needed for the crane lifts.  Therefore, I have had extensive practice with CAD software, 3-D crane lift software, and ground bearing pressure programs.  Another aspect of my job included accompanying engineers and salesman to job sites to do either preparation work for a project or aid in the build or tear down of a crane.  This was the most enjoyable part of the job in my opinion as I got to see my CAD drawings come to life at the various construction sites I visited.  I was grateful that I got to experience work from both behind the computer and out in the field with customers.  I enjoyed the people I worked with as well.  Both my supervisors and co-workers were friendly and accommodating to me as I was learning the ins and outs of the crane industry.  I was treated as an equal rather than a "kid",  which made me feel important to the company.  The job was quite demanding, as every project was different and required specific needs, but I enjoyed meeting deadlines in the fast paced environment.  Overall, my internship at Maxim Crane Works was a great opportunity to advance my understanding of what it takes to be a mechanical engineer in the world today.

A typical day at Boston, MA Maxim Crane Works is about dealing with disorganization, and fixing problems other co-workers create. Management and operations here is not good. Equipment is not maintained as it is supposed to be maintained, and  equipment and vehicles are breaking down regularly. on the road and on the job sites. Most of the coworkers, management and field crews only care about themselves and their production and bonus money. Many people work against each other and lie to keep other people from yelling at them. There is a lot of favoritism for certain people, and that causes a lot of animosity with many people. Accountability is almost non existent. If you report a problem, you are now the problem. There is an incredibly high rate of turnover with workers and management.  Many people are here less than a few months, and some have seen enough, and they quit on their 1st day. Yelling, swearing, screaming, threatening, are typical means of communication with certain groups of people here. Safety is something that is talked about, and safety is not a priority, until someone gets hurt, or until something is damaged. Some of the favored coworkers do not do what they are supposed to do. Then other coworkers get yelled at because of it not being done. The person who was just yelled at or threatened ends up doing it for the lazy person that is one of their crony friends.

Unless you’re a Freemason or related to someone in someway it’s just a job and you’re probably only there for a project… When it’s over, it’s over for you… It would be a great place to work and row. The problem is there’s a lot of nepotism and favoritism if you’re a Freemason you’re gonna have a future… the equipment lacks maintenance.. and even though there’s new owners, a.k.a. Apollo management they’re not gonna fix anything or service anything unless it’s broke on a job… And just like the machine you’re on your replaceable just remember that along with the union is in cahoots with Maxim… so if you think the union will look out for your best interest, working here thank you again… The best thing you can do is just plan on taking things one week or one job at a time. You look further down the road it will let you down and use your current contract with the union, they actually went backwards on pay instead of taking an account the cost-of-living increases that everyone else has given a raise to cover… My advice would be keep your expectations low and you’ll be fine if you think you’re gonna be there for a while and grow with the company think again unless you fall in the categories listed above… The company has a lot of great potential problem is the leadership that knows they will get paid and get their bonuses. You’re just like another part on one of the machines out there you will be replaced if you start squeaking too loudly.

Typical Day:
100% travel, 36 locations coast to coast.
A typical day began at 6:00 AM EST and ended at 9:00 PM EST.
Reported to Corp. Exec VP and CEO, Keeping 5 regional VPs informed.
Learning Opportunities:
Moved multiple fragmented a paper operating systems to a unified automated locally built system.
Management:
Highly focused and results oriented.
Co-workers:
Professional and driven.
Least Favorite Part of Job:
All Regional Service Depts. have a dual reporting structure "Local Operations and Corporate Service", making all decisions a highly political process. 
Most Enjoyable Part of Job:
Company establish through accusation of 19 smaller companies. Able to provide uniformity and global focus to the operation making it more efficient and cost effective.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They have a few solid employees that work hard and know the industry, but those are the employees that often get overlooked.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Zero leadership or communication from "upper management" and only a select few people actually make good money here or get recognized.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. No clear-cut policies and procedures in place. Zero leadership. Top executives spending a ton of money on hotels or going on expensive business trips. Wasteful with money and they don't invest in their employees.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Often stressful and the employees that actually do the daily work get overlooked constantly and then there are others who have horrible work ethic, yet they somehow get rewarded

enjoyed it! it takes a lot of education and learning, and a good amount of experience in the seat, but in the 40+ years that I ran some kind of crane, I didn’t have a serious accident and no injury. The new ones have far more technology than when I started. Everything when I first ran a crane was on a chart and you had to calculate everything in the planning of a lift. Now, much of that is done for you by the machine and technology. I still have the riggers hand book and calculator in my work box, that listed the weights of different materials and the required rigging. You can never trust what someone tells you something weighs, you have to verify for yourself. I ran everything from bridge cranes, to mobile cranes and RT (rough terrain) cranes. I lifted everything from cell phone towers to rail road cars. Loved it.

I enjoyed working at Maxim Crane because each day brought new chalanges and problems to solve. Being in the constuction industry and over the road crane business has it's own set of problems.Flat tires, broken cable,outriger falure. and so on.I would have to dispatch service trucks to the job site, call tire service centers to send out tire repair man to various job locations. Keep the parts department fully stocked with the necessaey parts for repair.There was a lot of overtime hours and quick action taken to keep the cranes working. Safty was allways top priority with us.So taking care of all the cranes, support vehicles and over the road trucks and trailers kept me busy.

Overall am not super satisfied with the company. Yes they are extremely large and you do have potential to advance with the company if you know and are liked by the right people. Biggest complaint has been the huge jumble up recently as maxim purchased another rival company and merged everyone together. There has been extremely poor management and leadership coming from this merger. As a result, overall employee morale has taken a turn. If this big bump can get smoothed out and worked over in the company, things could really take a turn for the better. The company really has the potential to be a number #1 kind of company to work for if it put more emphasis on its employees and quality of life.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Healthcare is top notch , the management lets you speak your mind on issues without making you feel like you’re going to be in trouble, VERY family oriented family is # 1 to them I’ve had a lot of companies say this but MAXIM actually stands by it your family and safety are #1 there

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
 Nothing is really stressful just do your job safely and professionally nothing is stressful there at least as a field tech 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Environment is hot cold windy rainy sometimes you’re out of town for a week or two

A typical day starts out with someone telling you what you have for the day, that usually last a few hours before it changes. If you know how to do your job then expect for someone to tell you that you are doing it wrong and be told how to do it right. A lot of closed doors meetings between certian people on the yard, besides getting at least 40 hours a week, this yard is not worth working at unless they make a lot of changes. Not enough employees on the yard to get the work done when its busy and they just push what few they have to the max to get it finished.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrative assistant 4 salaries reported	$20.75 per hour
Tower technician 5 salaries reported	$43.67 per hour
Project engineer 1 salary reported	$79,500 per year
Mechanic 1 salary reported	$30.50 per hour
Regional manager 1 salary reported	$121,000 per year

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