Has anyone worked or knows somebody who has worked at Jacobs as an architect?
I am looking to change firms and they have an opening in my city. I understand they are a major engineering firm and their website mentions they work on airports, transport, pharmaceutical, chemicals, power plants, housing, healthcare and education.
What is like to work as an architect within a large engineering firm? Are these firms good places in terms of salary, work-life balance and growth opportunities?
Also, are these in-house architecture teams generally executive architects?
Finally, do these companies have the reputation of retaining their staff or do they massively lay everyone off at the next recession (like Atkins and Arup did with their architectural teams)
Thanks in advance.
Anon_grad2.0
Oct 26, 18 6:40 pm
I’ve known people who have worked there. It depends on what office your at. From what I’ve been told, some get many large scale projects and others have very small projects. Based on your last post, I’d make sure the office your thinking about fall in the former and not latter category.
LITS4FormZ
Oct 26, 18 6:41 pm
Following
randomised
Oct 27, 18 2:50 am
Thanks for the heads up, I just applied and can start next Monday!
alle
Oct 27, 18 3:48 pm
Which office will you be at?
randomised
Oct 28, 18 2:27 am
All of 'em
Medusa
Oct 28, 18 10:08 am
I have not worked there, but I have a couple of former co-workers that currently work there, with what used to be the Kling group. It really depends which group you will be working with and what particular project type, so YMMV.
I worked for a Jacobs competitor. The money was great, but the management was terrible, the project I was stuck with was a dead-end, and I left because I could not see my career progressing there. It is usually difficult to move around and find other opportunities within these behemoth firms because every group tends to operate as its own entity under the corporate umbrella. This is because each group is typically a vestige of a previous acquisition. Again, this is fine if you land in a good group, but disastrous if you are in a shitty group with projects that go on hold a lot. These large firms put a huge emphasis on billable hours - like you are expected to be 100% billable - and if the project gets put on hold, that means people get put on unemployment. There is very little tolerance for floating people on the company dime, even for short periods, because it all affects the shareholder.
I don't know what your personal situation is like, but I would advise that you go into it only if you are willing to take the risk that you may be looking for work again within the year. It was ok for me because my particular skillset allows me to easily find work, so it was a risk I was willing to take. And, tbh, it was a good learning experience - at least from the perspective of what NOT to do. Also, ask for a lot more money that you normally would. Like think of a reasonable number and then add like 40-50%.
alle
Nov 9, 18 6:32 pm
Hi thanks for the reply. I just applied to them. The work is in aviation and transport but could not find details on specific ongoing projects in the internet. I will wait for the interview to ask the right questions. Did you find that there were opportunities for growth and advancement in these
Has anyone worked or knows somebody who has worked at Jacobs as an architect?
I am looking to change firms and they have an opening in my city. I understand they are a major engineering firm and their website mentions they work on airports, transport, pharmaceutical, chemicals, power plants, housing, healthcare and education.
What is like to work as an architect within a large engineering firm? Are these firms good places in terms of salary, work-life balance and growth opportunities?
Also, are these in-house architecture teams generally executive architects?
Finally, do these companies have the reputation of retaining their staff or do they massively lay everyone off at the next recession (like Atkins and Arup did with their architectural teams)
Thanks in advance.
I’ve known people who have worked there. It depends on what office your at. From what I’ve been told, some get many large scale projects and others have very small projects. Based on your last post, I’d make sure the office your thinking about fall in the former and not latter category.
Following
Thanks for the heads up, I just applied and can start next Monday!
Which office will you be at?
All of 'em
I have not worked there, but I have a couple of former co-workers that currently work there, with what used to be the Kling group. It really depends which group you will be working with and what particular project type, so YMMV.
I worked for a Jacobs competitor. The money was great, but the management was terrible, the project I was stuck with was a dead-end, and I left because I could not see my career progressing there. It is usually difficult to move around and find other opportunities within these behemoth firms because every group tends to operate as its own entity under the corporate umbrella. This is because each group is typically a vestige of a previous acquisition. Again, this is fine if you land in a good group, but disastrous if you are in a shitty group with projects that go on hold a lot. These large firms put a huge emphasis on billable hours - like you are expected to be 100% billable - and if the project gets put on hold, that means people get put on unemployment. There is very little tolerance for floating people on the company dime, even for short periods, because it all affects the shareholder.
I don't know what your personal situation is like, but I would advise that you go into it only if you are willing to take the risk that you may be looking for work again within the year. It was ok for me because my particular skillset allows me to easily find work, so it was a risk I was willing to take. And, tbh, it was a good learning experience - at least from the perspective of what NOT to do. Also, ask for a lot more money that you normally would. Like think of a reasonable number and then add like 40-50%.
Hi thanks for the reply. I just applied to them. The work is in aviation and transport but could not find details on specific ongoing projects in the internet. I will wait for the interview to ask the right questions. Did you find that there were opportunities for growth and advancement in these