welder

manufacturing engineer

assembler

engineering intern

intern

Oshkosh Corporation

I overall enjoyed my time in assembly working for Oshkosh, and for a good while (about 1 year) things were going well. Typical 4 10 hour shifts Mon-Thur with occasional Fridays and scarce Saturdays, but that's just my perspective. After the JLG takeover the Jefferson City facility has gone very downhill. They are heavily prioritizing building more machines over quality. So many machines are pushed through the line with defects that people don't mention so it slows down other stations, options aren't put on, functions don't work, and they just send it through like its not anyone's problem because we have to hit numbers. Some stations are working 5 12 hour shifts a week, parts are constantly running out with unknown times of when they'll arrive, massive amounts of people were laid off due to low sales just for management to tell us not even 2 months later that sales were picking back up, suddenly throwing the book at dozens to fire off whatever employees remain, among other things.

I pushed through most of it until they basically tripled the amount of work I had to do with no pay increase, and it was so physically straining that I couldn't do it anymore and started looking into other jobs. The pay, benefits and community/coworkers are amazing, but upper management (in JLG at least) is deceptive frequently, job advancement/promotions are rare, and if you get put in an unfavorable area you may be in the factory so much that you hardly have time to do anything at home.

Oshkosh Corporation is a great place to work.  Salaries are good and they have a robust benefits package.  However, if you look towards upward mobility you might want to look elsewhere.  The management teams from 20+ years ago are solidly rooted in the company and have formed alliances and bonds that are not easily broken.   If you are not in the 'old-school' club you are not welcome and are seen as a threat to the older schools of thought.  In all my years there I never got an offer to get a new job in a new city, an offer to get promoted to a new position within another segment, or anything of the sort.  I did get a promotion, which came with zero training, zero support from the managers and very little guidance on what the hell I was supposed to do.
Few opportunities appear at Oshkosh for people who want to grow within the company and this is a place where you want to go work if you want to spend 30 years in the same position doing the exact same thing with very little chance of mobility.  The salaries are good, though.  So you want to spend 20 years of your life earning 80k per year droning away mindlessly in a cubicle - Oshkosh Corporation is for you.

Pros

Cons
Some of the cons of working at Oshkosh corporation as a RPA developer are: limited opportunities for career advancement and learning new skills; high workload and tight deadlines that can cause stress and burnout; lack of feedback and recognition from management; and outdated technology and systems that can hinder productivity and innovation.
Advice to management
Some of the advice I would give to the management of Oshkosh corporation are: provide more training and mentoring opportunities for RPA developers to grow their skills and knowledge; recognize and reward the contributions and achievements of RPA developers; invest in upgrading the technology and systems to support RPA development and deployment; and balance the workload and expectations of RPA developers and ensure they have adequate resources and support.


Clocking in at 630a.m. We then make our ways to our designated area where we hold daily safety meetings before starting our day which help us refresh our memories for potential hazards as well as inform us of recent incidents within the company. After which we get to work. I along with my partner assemble and install topdoors for waiste trucks using overhead 2 ton cranes as the parts aren’t lightweight once assembled. Once i had the routine down there wasnt much to worry about as far as difficultys with the job more of just always being sure i am safe and my partner/surrounding areas are safe. The most enjoyable part of the job is our access to scissor and vertical lifts which enable us to instal tailgates to the truck and allow mobile access to the top of the trucks for installing top doors which comes with an awesome view of the facility i work in.

I worked as a design engineer in a core technogloy engineering group for about 3 years. What is not well ommunicated is the massive difference between the core tech and Paltform engineer roles, even though you get the same title. There is very little transparency on pay, and with the recent increase in acquiring more businesses to expand the company portfolio, there is very little underlying pay increase. They mention "market forces" but refuse to go into the fact that inflation and stock value has pretty much nothing to do with you salary which is based off of a number curated from  several years ago IMO. My coworker 2 levels above me with 5-6 years of hard working experience was almost in the 6-figures range, but not there just yet which makes no sense to me or him. I am worried OSK is turning into a large auto company that views employees as numbers with shareholders being the top priority. 

They expect you to suck it up and accept very long shifts, in a job where you might be working incredibly hard for the full 12 hours. While days during slow season can be fairly uneventful, the pay for the amount of work is still inadequate, given the physical toll of working 12 hours a day 4 days a week (only one 30 minute break per shift) in a very physical career. 

The management is also incredibly manipulative and stingy. They only properly accommodate for their employees when they are absolutely forced to, often leaving employees new and old, without the proper gear/knowledge necessary. Higher ups often promise things such as pay raises, or rewards for hard work, but in my whole time working here, none of the things they've promised have ever happened. 

Thats not to say the job is not enjoyable. In fact, if it weren't for the terrible mismanagement and milking of employees labor, I would honestly recommend it. 

You can't make this up.
I was an outside hire for a job that was perfect for me and I worked hard, had fun, and made friends.

Then came displacement! I was sent to a different plant, was given a new job that I hated and wasn't suited for based on my personal work history ( remember, hired for a job perfect for me), on top of that I had to work 9 hour shifts and now 10 hour shifts getting off 2nd shift at 2:00am.
My wife has a rare medical disease and I provide extensive home support which has been impeded by these work hours.

I went to HR and was practically begging to work at the job I was hired for. I tried to explain how my ADHD worked and how the job helped me (did not disclose the condition, but tried to describe how the job I was doing helped me from a lifetime of jobs I had trouble with).

Purpose of my job at Oshkosh was to support Army units by training soldiers to drive the newly fielded MRAP All Terrain Vehicle. I also formally trained Army mechanics as well as consulted with Army Mechanics side by side as a Subject matter expert SME.
I have worked by myself as my own supervisor for about half my tenure a little more than two years and collaboratively with peers for more than two years. At all times I conducted unit visits to solicit my expertise to support their missions.
The hardest part of my job was to work with limited resources working on your own You may have to support yourself for some tools and materials, even work space.
The most enjoyable part of my job is to consult with and solve maintenance faults that even skilled troubleshooters have trouble with.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Making the military vehicles are in good working condition for our young men and women and being around good co workers

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Fixing things that could be done before final assembly. Trying to communicate with the corporate side and having them see what you know to be best but your voice does not count

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Terrible, they treat you like
You don’t me a anything as long as corporate side gets there bonuses and the money keeps rolling in. The benefits are not real good and they have no respect for he union side of it all. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Steady with repairs or replacement of parts

A typical day at work was enjoyable because I like working with my hands ,and being challenged with different problems.I learned that if you are a strong team member and your team is strong there is nothing that cant be overcome.I believe management was good at making the shop safe and productive as possible When I was there the shop had almost three years without a accident.My coworkers were and still are strong team,with a large amount of knowledge.The hardest part was not job,it was dealing with the heat of summer and the cold of the winter.I think the most enjoyable part was knowing that our warriors would come home safe because we built the safest vehicles possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Welder 86 salaries reported	$25.39 per hour
Manufacturing engineer 46 salaries reported	$103,111 per year
Assembler 30 salaries reported	$20.49 per hour
Engineering intern 36 salaries reported	$27.50 per hour
Intern 7 salaries reported	$25.71 per hour

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