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Bryan Research & Engineering

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Great First Job, Not So Great Career. - Consulting Engineer Bryan Research & Engineering Employee Review

2.0
22 June 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You are not micromanaged and there is a very relaxed office culture. If you are proactive, you have "unlimited" learning potential. Managers there are great, the president Jerry can be rough. Very predictable and rigid 8-5 schedule. You are never expected to work more than 45 hours, except when travelling. Unique opportunities to travel and network with engineers in the oil and gas industry. You learn a lot of practical chemical engineering in the first year and are exposed to the entire oil and gas supply chain. Significant potential for commission if you get a good territory. Coworkers are friendly and BCS is a good place to live. Software sells itself and is truly valuable to customers. You are encouraged to go the extra mile for clients, so it's easy to under-sell and over-deliver.

Cons

Day-to-day work is focused on number of calls made. Not actual sales, or other forms of effort/communication such as email or LinkedIn. You are guaranteed to feel call center culture. Sales cycle is slow, like working a sales job from the 90s. Entire company is run by engineers, not business minded people. Finding new ways of boosting productivity go unnoticed because the only metrics that matter are hours worked and calls made. The software is developed by chemical engineers, not software developers. Certain software issues could be more quickly resolved with pure developers. Incredibly inflexible: During Covid-19, working from home was never an option beyond the first 2-3 weeks. During the Texas Power Crisis, roads were covered in ice, the president asked employees to either "come to work or use their vacation" regardless of their ability or necessity of working from home. Hours are not flexible and you get below average benefits. 10 days vacation and 10 sick days. 3% 401K match. Poor health insurance options, especially for spouse/children.

Explore other reviews about Bryan Research & Engineering

5.0
28 May 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working at BRE is a great way to grow your chemical engineering experience. Work/projects can be diverse and interesting if you make it so. Good training to help you get caught up to speed. The people are very willing to help and easy to work with.

Cons

This is a flat organizational structure so if you are hoping to climb a ladder, this is probably not the place.

1.0
22 Dec 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only positives are some smart, friendly coworkers trapped in the same boat. But that's not enough to outweigh the toxicity. Decent coworkers, low pressure to innovate (because nothing changes).

Cons

I lasted less than two years at Bryan Research & Engineering before jumping ship, and looking back, I wish I'd read the red flags in the Glassdoor reviews more carefully beforehand. This place is a relic stuck in the 1980s – outdated software development, archaic policies, and a leadership style that's downright abusive. The owner/CEO treats employees like disposable parts in his machine. Stories of him berating staff or making wildly inappropriate comments during interviews aren't exaggerations – they're part of the culture here. There's no real management structure; it's a flat organization run by fear and favoritism. If you're not in the inner circle of long-timers (many of whom seem burned out and jaded after decades), forget about advancement or fair treatment. Work-life balance? Laughable. No remote work flexibility. Direct deposit for paychecks is the lone step towards modernization this company has achieved. They still mail physical checks like it's 1995. Benefits are a joke: the health plan is so expensive that many employees opt out entirely, and compensation lags behind industry standards despite the "we never lose people to salary" boasts. As a software engineering role, the technical side is a nightmare. No code reviews, no automated testing, manual builds that waste entire days, and massive technical debt that's impossible to fix because touching "someone else's code" gets reverted. You'll pick up terrible habits and watch your skills stagnate while the support/sales team calls the shots – the software feels like an afterthought. Abusive leadership, poor pay/benefits, no modern practices, exhausting travel, stifling culture.

4
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