Challenging is the nice way to put it... - Manufacturing Specialist Caterpillar Employee Review

2.0
17 July 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you enjoy daily challenges and the ability to use your skills creatively, its a great place to work. You quite often get to see the results of your labors immediately, rewarding you at least with a "job well done" feeling.

Cons

For labor, pay for effort doesn't even come close to management salaries, let alone averages in the developed world. Prepare to hear the term "globally competitive" when management discusses labor pay. What they really mean is "we want all our workers to accept the Chinese $150/month wage". Prepare for constant back-stabbing as managers scrabble for each level up the career ladder regardless of who they have to step on along the way and to the detriment of the company as a whole. Also be ready to move a lot, as most jobs are moving south to the Republican "Right to Work (for less pay)" states. If you don't need any more friends, don't have a conscience and can kiss up to your betters and brow-beat your subordinates, you should fit right in to Cat's current management structure. Prepare to have to work to get noticed as the bloated, top-heavy structure of management at Cat makes it hard to stand out...unless you don't slavishly follow the status quo. This will only serve to relegate you to an out-of-the-way, dead end job posting. If you have less than a 4 year degree, don't bother unless you strive only to work in shop floor supervision. If you want more, not even 4 years is good enough. Senior management is now predominately filled with Degree toting number crunchers instead of those who worked their way up from the shop floor, meaning they know little to nothing about actual operations and care only about numbers, charts and Power Points.

Explore other reviews about Caterpillar

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great wlb and great benefits

Cons

none that i can think of.

2.0
30 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You are treated with autonomy, dignity, and respect. It is assumed you know how to do your job and are given the trust and means to do so. Compensation is above market value. Uncapped professional growth if you know how to play your cards right.

Cons

Working at Burger King and living from my car in Northern Michigan during the middle of winter was preferable to working on-site in Peoria. Project work was inherently meaningless and dictated almost entirely by the caste system this company has in Central, IL. My relocation had absolutely nothing to do with the role at hand and was a power play by management to get me to become a bleed-yellow Peorian in the CAT-corporate social club. The company loyalty here is absolutely disgusting and has nothing to do with the viability of the brand or product. Everyone is enamored with the status and wealth they've attained on account of not performing hard, manual, life-threatening labor. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually cares about what goes on in the defense division or addressing the geopolitical anomalies between the former headquarters and the new business direction of the company.

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