powertrain engineer

diesel technician

controls engineer

software engineer

cnc machinist

PACCAR

I loved Kenworth/Paccar. I drove 140 miles daily to work there. I enjoyed spotting the Kenworth's on my long route, even the Peterbuilt trucks because I loved and enjoyed Paccar.

From the moment you task train at Kenworth, you are subliminaly trained to dislike the other employees.  You are put into groups and while you might be cordigal and pleasant with them, you are secretly not wanting them to do as well because you are the person wanting to get hired.

Was falsely accused twice and I was unjustly fired for "Being destructive unstead of productive".  

I was never late, missed 2 days in 10 months with doctors notes.
No prior safety issues, no write ups, passed all my audits.

Work was fairly easy, although you wanted to get to work early, to get your day started.  If you were working with the senior employees, they felt the need to play on their cell phones and look up guns to raffle.  So I'd usually get started around 4:10 and production wouldn't start until 4:30.  It made the day easier for yourself and everyone.

The production line moved pretty quickly at times.  Depending on the job you were on,  it could be easy to get behind at 92 inches per minute.  One mistake could set you back, but it was fun and I would say that I was pretty good at it.

What I learned: Never trust or ever talk to people at work, just do your job and shut up. No union means Paccar can do whatever it wants.

Management: Treated me as guilty until proven innocent. No representation or help for the employee.  Paccar is Judge, jury and executioner.


Co-Workers: some are great, most are lazy and entitled

The hardest part of the job: Co-workers

The most enjoyable part of the job: The satisfaction of making a beautiful product, the pay, the benefits, the benefits, the benefits!

Bottom line: NO REPRESNTATION/UNION = FIRED (UNJUSTLY) IN A HALF A DAY

PACCAR is a firm where an engineering degree whether mechanical or electrical "gets you in the door" but after that you'll never use any of the education you learned in you engineering studies; say for example your an EE, forget about PLC's, VFD's, LT Spice, Matlab, Simulink, Labview. Yes it is true that some engineers will find their way and can get a niche job doing Labview at PACCAR's PTC tech center, for the majority what you learn over time is how to answer the phone (when dealing with cross functional silos), set up meetings, answer missed BOM calls or work orders known as REI's. Work in the industry a decade or two at a commercial truck manufacturing firm and go look for work as an EE elsewhere and you'll find you won't be able to call yourself an experienced EE as "power systems, high voltage power, three phase, etc" things that are expected of Senior engineers just aren't things you'll do here. You will need to be good at presenting in meetings, creating powerpoint presentations and supporting the truck manufacturing plants. The overall morale at PACCAR is low at times due to the culture at PACCAR where employees are asked to do something they might not like to; such as come in clean shaven as the perception that engineers look a certain way is enforced. Pay at this particular employer is only average. Opportunity for advancement exists as long as your manager likes you. PACCAR is a great firm to gain intern experience and then you can decide to leave while I would not recommend it as a dream employer firm.

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at PACCAR Inc. is good.

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at PACCAR Inc. not equal to the danger of physical harm and physical labor required.

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at PACCAR Inc. it is unsecure.

Management
In general, managers at PACCAR Inc. are in need of development and supervision.

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at PACCAR Inc. is good.

Overall
No talent management (placement by need regardless of skill),low moral (under appreciated workers), little/no training materials (depends if the person feels like training you or not), no HR presence(like a closed door policy),favoritism(same rules dont apply to everyone)nepotism(family=fast track development)aggressive yelling by management at employees tolerated(on occasion with consent by presence of upper managment) lack of information /communication about covid19 procedures(no standard for incidents or plan of action), punishments and threats of harder phyisical jobs by a senior manager is openly tolerated by upper management(a specific team that is physically hard)  
My experience working at PACCAR Inc. is an eye opener. I believed I was going to be working for a strong company with strong roots in our community and I would be proud of the job. Instead I have found myself looking for another job in the middle of a pandemic. The pay is ok, bennies and schedule are good but the environment is so toxic that I cant see myself there much longer. It is more then just a few bad eggs. It's become an unchangeable accepted way that things work.

While some things are very conservative here, I get a strong sense from managers I've worked with and met that they have the desire and drive to implement positive and effective change. I feel supported when I have new ideas in my work group and am given opportunities to implement them. Recognition in the form of merit increases, promotions, new business/divisional learning opportunities are many. Networking is valued highly here, and does often result in new opportunities. Mentoring program helps in this area too. Lots of corporate-led training to develop skills, which I value. Since I've started, I've seen a significant effort in increasing diversity and inclusion activities and engagement, though we aren't nearly where we should be in that regard, compared with other local companies. Long term benefits and investment into employees are competitive. However, the time off amount (starts at 10 days per year, 15 after 5 years, and maxes out at 20) is lacking. 2 paid vacation weeks per year is not enough. 20 days should be the starting point.

For a Fortune 500 company it is astonishing how much  it operates in the past. The only thing advanced about it is its product. Management does not invest in their people or care about their opinions. Sure, you'll hear them mention work-life balance but they don't show they even know its meaning. Example: The company's first employee survey was taken in 2015 and again in 2017. Both times, the #1 complaint was outdated systems. And yet, they do nothing about it. Theyre more concerned with pleasing the owners and will bend over backwards for them. I highly suggest one does not work at Corporate unless you can handle the "good ol' boys" mentality and mandatory brown-nosing. 

You will struggle feeling satisfied with your work since you'll be so busy with manual work and getting pulled in different directions. There is no time for cross-training and because the turnover is high, when one chair is empty the entire department will feel it. Process improvement is in many job descriptions but you will not get the support to change anything, that includes time.

I've been applying to this place for the past 5 years.  I have a habit of being honest and straightforward so I wasnt selected when answering questions o. The assessment.  Fail one of those and you have to wait 6 months before you can apply again. I finally got in and was hopeful for the first time in years.  But the expectations they have for you and the support they provided were seriously unbalanced.  At least in the dept I was in.  I was expected to scan inbound shipments with a quota to match.  But some of the shipments were larger and took more time to complete.  When needing a super for certain approvals, they were not around or they just refused.  I made my case for early in my probation period but no help there.  They even extended it since I was so close to meeting the quota.  But I kept on running into the same time time consuming issue, even the super saw it a few times but I wasnt provided the help I needed.  So working there is fine, its the incompetence of their leadership that I question.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They sometimes help pay for cerifications.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Often doing 2-3 peoples work. 

As a developer I have been a BA a software engineer and a software developer all in a 2 week sprint. 

Organizational standards basically are non existent when it comes to the IT divisions.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment? Well we're all stressed, trying our best, but our Management can't seem manage - I am talking about director level, direct managers do their best but aren't given the resources they need to make their teams successful. We have roughly 3 software roles that are supporting roughing 36 repositories including integrations. We're understaffed, yet 1 of can be "bored" or have no work during a sprint because organization is just not there. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Not one day is the same since I take on parts of 3 roles so often I'm consistently switching mindsets and priorities.

The work day was normal; come in for morning meetings, work on assignments given or continue assignments from before, report to management, and finish the day. I learned many was to use my major towards different problems in the workplace which was not common in school. I also got to hone my skills through computer programs as well. This was through a time of company struggle with many layoffs and my manager was on many business trips so this also made my daily tasks a bit harder to keep track with the short time I was there. The teams there were able to help me whenever I occurred issues in terms of lack of plant knowledge or process issues whenever my manager was away. The quality team also helped keep the spirits up even through the layoffs with their positive attitudes and humor which was my most enjoyable part of the internship. I also enjoyed the trust that management gave the workers, even the interns, letting me dive into problems and learn on the fly instead of giving me busy work.

It will always be a company first everything else a distant second.  A couple of years ago there was a sudden snow storm with 14 inches of snow that hit the ground in the matter of 2-3 hours.  People left due to fear of getting kids, etc.   They wrote up and/or fired a bunch of them.  Absolutely insane.

They are just extremely old school and in the end its a game of favorites more than anywhere else I've ever worked.  Its not the worst place in the world and yet for a salaried position, its the last place I would ever want to work again.

On the plus side, they have decent benefits but save vacation days in case they don't have enough work for you which happens frequently or you'll go unpaid.  They also will layoff hourly workers in a heartbeat in order preserve their 75+ year streak of making a profit.  

If you know anyone that works there, ask about the Chairman.

Everyone else works there because they are local and don't want to move and there just aren't that many good paying companies in the area.

Again, I warned you!

PACCAR corporate is still living in the past. The "Mad Men" mindset is still true due to the chairman not ready to let "his" culture norms go. Unable to really be able to inspire change as senior leaders do enough to keep their jobs and are afraid to stick their necks out for their employees. 
Employees performance should is based on what work they do, not what they look like. Men forced to wear tailored suits where women are able to wear more causal professional attire and get away with it. 
Work processes are heavy in red tape, 3-6 approvals are needed prior to getting something accomplished. Very old school methods and excel heavy spreadsheets. 
Good people waiting around for the chairman to sell off the company so the company can be brought up to the 21st century. Or waiting for 5 year mark for a pension. Cold siloed atmosphere most of the time. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Powertrain engineer 1 salary reported	$27.50 per hour
Diesel technician 2 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Controls engineer 7 salaries reported	$83,586 per year
Software engineer 10 salaries reported	$126,375 per year
Cnc machinist 5 salaries reported	$26.97 per hour

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