Defense contractors (Orlando: job openings, budget, retire)

[mich2fla]

Anyone know anything about Northrop Grumman or Lockheed Martin? I'm more familiar with Lockheed, is Northup similar? Are both companies stable? Decent benefits and working conditions as a mechanical engineer?

Any other companies I should look into around the Orlando area?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[ngrome]

It's no more stable than other defense companies or their other divisions within the same corporation. Corporate jobs have better benefits than state or government jobs as far as medical and dental is concerned, I think. But long term stability is probably better in the government sector than the private sector, but still not as secure as it used to be as state and federal budgets are taking big hits these days. Depends on what your skill sets are. I've been in both private and public sectors, there's really no inherent security these days.

I would target the major industry in this area, which which is hospitality. Not saying fill out your application at Disney, but there are many other ancillary companies in here that can put an ME to work, such as Siemens and Honeywell, which work on HVAC and building controls, but that depends on your specializiation as well. Good luck.

[pianogal]

My son and two of his friends work at Lockheed. My husband and I have 5 friends who work there. One friend - a long term - career employee of Lockheed, told me recently he could use at least another 100 engineers if he could find them. He says there are many older engineers getting ready to retire and they don't have enough younger employees trained to step into their shoes. The problem is finding people with the skills and qualifications. To work on many projects, employees need specialized skills, an outstanding performance record and the ability to qualify for high security clearances. They are hiring and there are job openings if you are what they are looking for.

[Lanton]

Yeah I actually work with Northrop. They are similar and have a lot of great defense job openings right now