assembly technician

project manager

application developer

field representative

manufacturing engineer

Schneider Electric

When I first started working at Schneider Electric I was excited to be able to work as a technician first before becoming an engineer because I wanted to gain job experience and know what it was like working as a technician. In the later months that followed, I would sometimes get comments from my supervisor and co-workers about my work performance that did not really sit well with me. Comments like, how slow I am in wiring a panel or how I am not applying myself hard enough in what I am doing. 
The truth is, yes I was I was a bit slow when it came to doing my job, but I was always giving it my best in whatever I did and always got the job done right. Being a technician was not my first choice, and I could understand why I did not belong there, but I still gained some useful knowledge like wiring and hand tools.
I also networked with some of the engineers there at the plant that I was working in, but when I gave my resume to the engineering trainer, he did not reply to me with feedback or even bother talking to me from there on forward. I wanted to believe that there was a chance for advancement in Schneider but I was a bit skeptical about it.
The management is in major need of improvement. One of the supervisors that I worked with was okay but there were a few minor occurrences that put him the category as being an okay supervisor.
The toughest part of the job was being able to wire the component panels and switch gear. My supervisors and leads would often tell me to hurry up and that put a lot of pressure on me, which was really tough.
The most enjoyable part of the job was finishing wiring a panel. It made me realize that I can do this job but it would take me some time to finish it because I was not used to working with my hands or being in a demanding environment.
Overall, my experience working with Schneider Electric was an okay experience. Note that this was my first real job and I thought that I gave it my best effort in everything I did and I held no grudges with anyone that I worked with. Being a technician is a very tough and demanding job, but hopefully I will apply these experiences and skills that I gained when I work as an electrical engineer.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Pay and Benefits. Competitive benefits is putting it lightly. they probably have the best options as far as benefits packages go. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Safety Policy. Mandates. The place operates as if no one has common sense. I understand safety rules... but seriously they come at you like the third Reich with no regard for your actual humanity. This was proven even more so by the mask/vaccine mandates. The supervisors aren't allowed to behave as "humans". Instead they act like their livelihood depends on forcing everyone to OBEY the rules so the rules become more important than the human element which just... well sucks. and they looked us right in the eye and told us to get vaccinated or be fired and again... "nothing we can do about it" kind of attitude. So they are run much like the S.S. but they parade around as if there is "choice" but when it comes down to it they just take and disseminate orders like a well oiled regime. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's fantastic! Really great. When there's no pandemic going on the environment is pretty fun-loving, open and real growth seems to take place. Unfortunately though once the government mandates anything they "have" to follow suite because of some contract so it quickly turns into a real "behind the iron curtain" kind of feel in a matter of seconds when a pandemic hits. So yeah, No pandemic = great environment. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Regular non-pandemic day, you clock in, deal with some safety nuisances, get your work done clean up and clock out. Pandemic-Day it's like living in a crazy world of illusions where you are forced to suffer in a mask for 10 hours no matter how hot or out of breath you get and you have to act like every minute you could die and kill everyone else around you at any moment and if you don't behave this way and conform you will GET FIRED because they don't really care about people or how insane what they tell you to do is... all that matters is that YOU FOLLOW the rules.

Schneider has accumulated many companies with related product and services lines to present a unified green image and flesh out subsidiary product lines. The IT business unit is an outgrowth of the APC company acquired by Schneider in 2007. APC is a very young culture but was marketing heavy and had a very young culture. Other Schneider business units are very, very old school industrial sales organizations-- contractor focused. Blend them with the structure of a $30 Billion corporation and you have process, control and cultural issues. Schneider's corporate initiated programs to drive cross -bu cohesiveness and trust fall flat.

The IT Business unit is still functioning like a startup but is driving for efficiency to match the corporate parent. This means key support structures have been trimmed to the bone, and all organizations are subject to restructuring. Many functions have been outsourced and growth paths are being restricted. The sales talent development process is much the same as it has been since mid 90s, relying on recent graduates primarily from schools on east coast, which has developed a less diverse, clubby atmosphere, and keeps the salary expectations low.

The products offered by Schneider are good to great. Efficiency drives in the IT business unit have caused longer lead times and failures in key components recently, and the competitive functional advantage of the primary product lines have been matched by the competition.

The people I worked with were good, competent folks, but their careers are limited because they were not located in the HQ.

What is most enjoyable about the job I had was working with professionals to solve problems for customers. What Schneider has and doesn't realize is a tremendous body of data center expertise in their front line sales and engineering people. No one in the industry matches it. This is a salable value that has yet to be leveraged.

Managed to score a job there via contract to hire. The pay is good, there are plenty of hours to work if needed and the benefits I was to receive once hired were substantial.

However, the job was very detail oriented and required very specific standards. This, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing, but what had happened to me was rather surprising.

I had worked hard to try and learn a lot of the work I was assigned on my own. I was hardly trained and ultimately left to my own devices. Personally, it was a bit overwhelming, but I was told by multiple employees and managers that it was nothing to worry about and that my first few assignments will take time to learn and finish.

I finally finished my first assignment and had it approved by my supervisor, then moved on to the next one. The entire time I had been working on it, I was not spoken to once about my work ethic, quality, or anything like that. As a matter of fact, when I inquired about my performance myself, I was told that I was doing fine and that even if I wasn't the company had plenty of other positions I could fill that fit me as a person.

I was relieved. It was good to know that I had job security.

I had called my contractor later that week to resolve a mispunch on the time clock. I wasn't getting paid for the time I had been there, so I wanted to sort it out.

Things happen, no big deal.

He told me that my missing hours will be added to my next paycheck 

Oh and by the way I was fired.

What?

I had called THEM to sort an entirely unrelated issue and all of a sudden I'm fired? What happened?

Apparently, I was told that my quality was lacking, I was often caught daydreaming by a manager I had never met nor even knew existed, and that I had to redo my assignment at least 4 times.

All of this was news to me. I hadn't been warned, scolded, or told anything about my work, actually quite the opposite.

The lack of training, communication and clarity pretty much ended my career there and it sucks because I enjoyed the job.

Management feedback was often unclear, inconsistent, and lacked transparency. Throughout my employment, I worked hard, showed up, and did my best to contribute to the team. However, when concerns arose, there was little meaningful communication about what needed to improve or what expectations were not being met. What makes my experience particularly disappointing is the way my employment ended. I was terminated without receiving any prior written warnings, formal write-ups, or progressive discipline. This was my first major issue, yet I was not given a fair opportunity to correct the situation or demonstrate improvement. Instead, I was informed that I was being let go due to a “bad attitude,” despite never being provided specific examples, documentation, or coaching that supported such a claim.
During a difficult period in my life, I was dealing with personal hardship, grief, and emotional distress. I was honest with HR about what I was going through and believed the company would take those circumstances into consideration. Instead, I felt that my honesty was met with a lack of understanding and support.The most frustrating part was feeling that the decision had already been made before I was given a real chance to explain my situation or improve. I expected fairness, communication, and accountability from management. Unfortunately, my experience left me feeling blindsided, undervalued, and disappointed by a process that seemed to disregard both my contributions and the challenges I had openly communicated.
I believe employees deserve clear feedback, documented concerns, and a genuine opportunity to succeed before such serious decisions are made. My experience did not reflect those values, and I hope the company improves its approach to employee communication, transparency, and support in the future.

The local sites can be fairly pleasant to work in, depending on your position. People are mostly friendly and helpful. However, some global restructuring is driving the company into silos, or smokestacks, or kingdoms, where department managers report to a corporate lead outside the local company rather than the site head officer. This results in cross-departmental fighting, poor communications, and a choking of the decision-making process. No one seems to have the authority to finally call the end of a fight to make a final decision.

That said, my interaction with individual departments (frequent) was generally productive; the cross-talk was the primary problem.

Everyone is pushed hard for cost-reduction; Engineering has to fight Production and Purchasing just to get parts to work with; Purchasing has a mandated cost reduction of 5% each year which will eventually lead to poor quality parts, and Operations it driven to make more, faster, with less, and still hit the on-time-delivery numbers. Oh, and no close-calls or accidents or everyone loses their bonus.

If North America is in the black, but Europe (through fate or just yes, sorry, laziness and inefficiency) fails, everyone has to suffer. My location had to lay off two outstanding people, even though we were having a banner year, because Europe was dragging the bottom line down for everyone. That really makes sense.

A day at work is almost as identical as the next,or even the week for that matter. This is all for a good matter,we are there for the amount of time to create a great product,which requires eyes,hands,and mind on task. Anything beyond that is looked upon as idle time. Now of course you have down time and lunch,and on these times our dining room serves great food to enjoy,while our in door weigh room has all the necessary equipment to enjoy a great work out. Those who love the outsides,there is a beautiful wildlife nature trail to take a stroll on. Being apart of the Schneider team,I've truly learned how to be apart of a family and team player. No one product goes out without high quality inspection and we all play a role in that! Since the economy had to take a down-size in work,so did we. Human Resource,before that time was our mediator between us(the production associate) and Management. That allowed our department managers and floor managers more time one on one with their supervisors,which in turn us. Now that Human Resource has tooken a huge chunk out of the normal way of what was theirs of business,we still have access to our managers but very limited. My co-workers are like my own famiy,love'em one day and can't stand them the next,however we work well because in us we all have a since of pride for what we do. The work is never too difficult for me,because I have no supervisor standing over me to make sure I'm doing work. And this is because I believe that when they hired me,they knew this much about me,that is,I take responsibility of my own duties because I have much pride in a company that takes pride in themselves.

I started at Square D as a college student working weekends as summers as an aide to manufacturing engineers.  We had the first automatic insertion equipment in the state, starting with VCD and ultimating ending up as pioneers in volume production of SMT.

That experience on the production floor gave me great insight to be used in my product designs.  

I was awarded 4 patents for inventions that came from being innovative in the electronic sensor/transducer development.  Had to deal with very high power systems, up to 765kV and 250kA.  Learned to respect electrical power and what is can do.

I worked for my first ever program manager while at Square D.  This was a rather new concept at that time.  The program manager was excellent and taught me a lot about how to run a program from a business aspect (budget and scedule) as well as a technical aspect (meeting requirements).  I have yet to meet another program manager that has had the insight, ethic and motivational skills that this gentleman had.

In my track record to Staff level, I was rewarded with a number of research opportunities.  I served on a standards committee (ISA) for factory (automation) floor communications systems.  Back then, this was a wired system, up to 10,000 ft and over 250 'field nodes'.  I served as chairman of a companion standards committee at NEMA.

It's a large company, and feels like it. 
This is first, and foremost a company centered around maximizing share price. 
Most of your goals will center around improving the revenue flow of your department. You need to have that mindset in order to succeed. 

The culture is professional, but at times cold. You will see people who have worked for Schneider for 10+ years be unceremoniously let go, and your duties will change on their head. 
There are lots of processes, and rules to follow, but you learn ways to work within them, while also making your life easier.
Advancement is difficult if you aren't a brown-noser. You need to tell people you are good at your job, not necessarily be good at your job. 

The hardest part of the job is getting communication and commitments from the different departments you are working with. When a customer is yelling at you because their MCC is four months delayed, an email from the plant is like a cold glass of water in the desert, however it rarely comes. 
The most enjoyable part of the job is that you are largely free to learn and do whatever you're interested in. Although often laughed at (why take extra work on, right?), I do enjoy working  on  internal projects with other departments.

To sum it up, Schneider is a large, public company, and that comes with all the negatives and positives. You trade decent stock options, yearly bonuses, and consistent year raises with bureaucracy, favoritism, and semi-liquid job security.


When I started as a temp agent, they told us: "After 6 months, you go company!" Turns out it's rare for temps to go company at the 6 month point, with some people being a temp for 2 years before they quit. In addition, as a temp, the only benefit you get is health insurance, which you still have to pay for. I won't say much for other work areas, as I mainly stuck to mine, but the PPE is a joke in many cases, and only sufficient in the best case scenario. In addition to that, we would run out of tools, work supplies, or even PPE in our area, and it could take anywhere from a few days, to MONTHS for them to get more.

On the other hand, if you go company, or get directly hired on(which wasn't available when I was job searching), you can expect to be making about $3-$4+ over a temp in the same position, with full company benefits(though you're still gonna be paying your own health insurance, they don't give you that.)!

One thing that really, REALLY frustrated me personally: The lack of communication on almost every level. If something bad happened in your area, odds are, the team leader won't know unless YOU tell them. The supervisor won't know unless YOU tell them. HR, managers, plant managers, branch managers, even corporate won't know unless YOU YOURSELF tell them directly on the rare occasion when they visit your area to talk with you for whatever reason.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assembly technician 35 salaries reported	$24.30 per hour
Project manager 1 salary reported	$120,000 per year
Application developer 4 salaries reported	$77,938 per year
Field representative 15 salaries reported	$80,713 per year
Manufacturing engineer 7 salaries reported	$79,296 per year

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