software engineer

principal software engineer

mechanical assembler

program manager

senior quality control inspector

Thales

From the get go, they gave me a lot of misinformation as to what my job actually entailed. I was told my position was going to be IT oriented and computer oriented, I came to find on my first day I was a glorified envelope filler. All I did was sit there, fill envelopes, and that was it. Later on they tell me I have to switch to first shift off of second which is what I was hired for if I want to receive training and move any further working for them. I accepted begrudgingly, go on first shift to get trained to find out I operate a machine that barely functions for longer than a minute or two without breaking down that fills envelopes. If I had known that this was going to be my job role, I would have turned the offer down. 

Many other workers from temp agencies experienced the same idea as me, told one thing got another. The morale on the work floor was extremely low, I rarely heard a good thing about the place. On top of all this, some workers have been temporary there for a year and a half or more despite doing their jobs no problem, but then they pick someone with attendance issues to become full hire when they've been there for 6 months, which shows clearly there is favor going on. I more or less figured out the reason they keep people temps for so long, is that then the company can get away without having to give employees pay raises or benefits if they keep them temps for as long as possible. One employee I worked with on first shift had been there for over 2 years and was still making 14 bucks an hour like me.

I wouldn't suggest anyone enter this job at all unless you're just looking to scrap together some pocket change and don't mind performing a mind numbingly boring job with poor management that won't wait to cuss each other out. Beware of what they tell you during the interview, they're just trying to win your favor.

Thales is a huge multi-national French company.  It can be a great place to work, but it does not welcome creativity and innovation they way they profess, at least not in USA.  For a high tech organization all of they systems are rather outdated.  It was just this year that a paperless system was put into place for expense reports.  All projects within the function areas (HR, Legal, Communications, Finance, Operations) are complex and require level after level of review and approval.  This is what happens when you acquire small companies and don't take the time to introduce them to the rest of the family properly. What is the saying...united we stand, divided we fall... yes that is the one.  If a person is up for the challenge why not get the great experience, you won't know a good job until you experienced a bad one.  There is a big difference between working in the USA for this company vs other countries. Thales Group seems to care a lot for their employees and wants to be a great place to work and strives for that success, however it seems that the morale and energy dies out when it crosses any ocean.  As much as we are part of the "Group" there is definitely that step-child feeling.    I think this is absolutely the right type of company for certain people, but lacks a lot for our Gen Y. They are putting in idea rooms, try to encourage mind mapping, but they can't even update their own social media sites on a regular because those sites are blocked.  Oh yeah they put in a prayer room at my location, seems appropriate because at this point I think a little help from God couldn't hurt.

It’s okay. You can do better and worse. Typical corporate machine. Don’t know what’s really going on financially. Will lay people off as needed for financial reasons, no warning. Silos. Communication is famously poor between teams and departments. Teams don’t have good view of what other teams are working on. Poor (almost nonexistent) onboarding program. During good times they show employees a good time like annual holiday party, if it happens and if you fly in for it. When things aren’t going well then it’s brutal corporate efficiency. Lower rung employees don’t have a good view of what’s going on with their management, or what’s going on with their manager’s management. It affects you directly. Some have in office requirements, few employees are in office while rest of team was remote. Will contract employees and outsource as opposed to offering Thales employee contracts. Communication and team work among teams varies based on individual teams. Some teams have good report with each other, other teams barely really know each other or talk. Need a better training program. Tell employees to refer to a specialist, and then will be upset if there is a kink in the hose because the specialist is not present to advise. Can be accommodating, which is a plus. You never know where people really stand. I didn’t expect to get cut unexpectedly right before the holidays. It happens. I’ve worked better places, and worse places. Wouldn’t recommend unless you’re okay with cold stereotypically corporate environment. 

The company is established with a lot of great/big name clients and products. It seems like the company offers a lot of training so everyone can stay up to date and current with the technology.

The culture (at least at my location) is drab and bland. The decor and building is outdated and there is nothing hip, cool or fun about the office. Executives and Project Managers (for the most part) have their own offices. Everyone else sits in a cube farm.

The kitchen is bland and only offers bottled water and coffee (for free). NO free food or snacks (there is a vending machine, shrug).

Workplace culture - people stick together if they are alike or do the same type of job. Not a very open or friendly office. Rarely do people go out to lunch together. Everyone just does their own thing/keeps to themselves.

Upper Management is overwhelmed with too many direct reports. Too many people report to the same manager which leaves people feeling under appreciated.  

HR is a TOTAL nightmare and mess. It takes the local HR rep days - if not WEEKS - to reply to emails or phone calls. HR needs to step up and listen to employee feedback. Make positive changes to improve company morale. 

Mostly older employees, established in old routines - makes for a boring day-to-day work environment. Lots of outdated office furniture, equipment, and laptops.

The daily routine for work was very fast paced, it greatly depended on getting our work out on time for the production floor to get work out of the building. I learned that there are multiple ways of getting the job done, both the right way and the wrong way. I also learned that owning up to your own mistakes and knowing when to ask for help goes a long way. Management is extremely helpful but scarce, in the sense that they have a lot of responsibilities and things to do. They will always find time to answer any questions you might have, even if it takes time away from their duties. The co-workers here were amazingly helpful, they gave the sense of wanting you to succeed, they were willing to answer any questions as many times as needed to make sure you understood everything. I believe that the hardest part of my job was receiving in stock for the vault, not only was the process quite tedious but at times mistakes were made from the manufacturer which is off site. This made our work a bit stressful because the work needed to be done, we didn't have the supplies to do our work, and there was nothing we could do to speed up that process. The most enjoyable part of my job would be the fact that everyone is willing to help if any questions come up and the environment is very pleasant.

This is the most professional company I have worked for in my career. Most co-workers and staff are easy to work with. Since it serves the defense industry both domestic and international, it has extensive processes in place. Most projects are very large, taking two or more years to implement. Some technologies used are cutting edge, depending on the project, but because of the long duration of projects, many tools and software technologies used are lagging behind industry standards. Projects are often highly aggressive with all staff working long hours to meet deadlines and budgets. Projects are usually well planned out, but due to the comfortness in following established waterfall processes, accommodating changes to requirements can be cumbersome and slow. Front line managers as well as the development staff support one another well. Senior management tend to be distance from the technology and rely on reports, charts, and numbers to run projects without spending the time and effort to know the staff. Good place to work for people who are looking to work with established *safe* technologies that take years to complete.

If you are applying for a job in the LRU shop as a technician, there are things you should know. The culture is diverse, so they don’t discriminate against race which is nice and there is a variety of equipment that you can learn on the floor. However, because they are dealing with the FAA, there is more paperwork that needs to be done than actual repair, so prepare for that. Also, this company has major lay-offs nation wide every two years, so job security can feel like an illusion at times. On top of that, because of COVID-19, I suspect that the airline industry will likely start looking to make their airplanes more of a touch free environment and probably look to remove their InFlyt entertainment systems on their aircrafts, which is what the LRU shop does at Thales. Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, the supervisors there do not defend the technicians against upper management, which as I had mentioned earlier, like to do major lay-offs every two years, certain supervisors avoid taking responsibility for what they are paid for, by putting their duties on the shoulders of the techs so they can make them their scapegoats later, which works well for the company when it’s time to lay off.

The environment was awesome, working with wonderful and talented people.  The upper and mid management team needed some training.  They didn't have the experience that matched their titles.  They held the "workers" accountable for their bad decisions, but were never held accountable for those bad decisions.  The programs would make it impossible to make a deadline promised due to their lack of planning. That being said ... the work environment was good.  The pay was OK for someone that started a whole new career but less than I'd ever been paid in my working career.  They were very selective with whom they wanted to promote and were starting to lay off the older workers unless you were French.  The management had big egos and didn't know how to put their talent in the right position make the company work.  I for example, was over qualified for the position they kept me in.  If they "lay off" the upper management and replace them more qualified individuals their company would succeed in an ever changing market.  One last thing, their HR department doesn't work for the best interest of the employee.  They work in the best interest of the managers.  So your concerns go on deaf ears.  It's always the employees fault and how the employee needs to make changes.  Sounds to me like the employees rights are not taken seriously.

Manage the bid preparation of engineering non recurring tasks, and hardware bills of material for custom in flight entertainment systems on large commercial aircraft, broadband connectivity solutions, cost benefit analysis, task detail summaries, schedules, bid kickoff meetings for commercial clients and global field sales support efforts.
 Audio/video, state of the art software, hardware development, systems, customer installation and support, test and certification engineering, tech pubs bid management and approvals through the Director of Engineering. 
 Detail research and analysis on large commercial aircraft seat layouts, wiring and component design involved in the bid process that was then fed to finance for bid and proposal pricing and completion.   
 Management is too concerned about corporate level concerns and thus not concerned about the employee. Co-workers are very self centered and not team players. Too many cultures to deal with so the hardest part of the job is dealings within my own department. The Engineering employees are very normal and team players.
 The most enjoyable part of my job is winning a proposal!

A typical day at work would consist of me working alongside other logistic coordinators across the US to move spare parts to other bases to ensure units are available for replacement. I also manage the stock room for several customers and the vehicle fleet at the base. I receive and ship out numerous parts in a day for repair or for increasing stock levels. I learned how to read spare levels and learn to predict where parts may need to be sent to supply other bases. I learned the in flight entertainment system and how to remove and replace various units on airplanes. Management works closely with staff and provide an open door policy. They are willing to help clear any roadblocks when performing your daily duties. My co workers are very helpful, they are willing to help and share their knowledge of the in flight entertainment systems. The hardest part of my job would  have to be doing a monthly inventory count of over 500+ parts and ensuring by part number and serial number that is matches our Servo system.  The most enjoyable part about my job would have to be the environment, all of the staff coexist really well.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 6 salaries reported	$112,770 per year
Principal software engineer 4 salaries reported	$157,244 per year
Mechanical assembler 5 salaries reported	$71,790 per year
Program manager 1 salary reported	$100,193 per year
Senior quality control inspector 3 salaries reported	$26.65 per hour

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