Ford is not an ideal company. There are many issues. However, all in all, I've never regretted sending my resume here. There were tough periods, but the skills I acquired here are the most important to me, I am free to look for something better for myself if I want to.
I read a statement from a person that he regretted ever coming to Ford. I believe that there may be such cases, but I wonder what must happen to a person to make him or her regret applying here?
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Your post goes along the lines "don't complain so much" and that is fine. It is a forum in which people complain though and discuss. Instead of coming here telling us not to complain you could have stayed away entirely and not be "exposed" to such complaints. So then why come here and say it anyway? Because you want to force your opinion on us...
Open a jimmy johns…problem solved
I have a feeling that sticking around at Ford too long will actually ruin your resume. And I think other companies in the industry know that OEM engineers don't have that much to offer in terms of technological skill. If you have experience working with prototypes, that is worth something I believe.
The car industry is pretty hostile overall. When you hit age 35 you are old now. If you're male that is beginning to be just another problem. F seems to like hiring straight out of school which lowers cost. Salary development in Michigan isn't all that great either when you compare with the tech savvy states.
I was considering switching to an entirely different industry altogether. Yes, your salary development will reset. But if you get laid off by F after say 15 years you're completely screwed in that regard anyway.
You know, companies always complain they can't find enough "talent" (this bu-----t expression alone...) but they don't admit they ignore applicants above a certain age.
I can't say I regret working here. Met a lot of great people who took time to teach me about the industry, learned a ton of useful skills, finished my degree with very little out of pocket expense, and had a much wider scope of options for working in different areas than my prior career track.
I am concerned about the direction the entire industry is heading in right now, but I still hold out some vain hope things could change. I've worked hard to keep my skills marketable and I'm always ready to go if the time comes, but I hope things would change at some point. A big thing I see now is just 0 initiative to train current employees in new tech and hiring externally instead. Hardly any jobs posted internally right now but plenty positions externally if you look. Lot of folks I talk to feel like they're just being left behind for whatever direction we're heading in, which is hard to stomach considering those who have given so much.
@OP. I don't regret working at FMC, but unless you are an FCG with no previous experience, working at this company will definitively dull your technical skills. Before you get all wind up about that statement, think about how many hours a day you spent in meetings and nonproductive activities. Sometimes the waste is over 20 hours a week.
It is true that Ford is a large and complex company, with some challenges associated to its size. However, that just means a narrow specialization for most technical roles. Moreover, some teams actually restrict training or developing new skills to some members, specially when they are labeled "critical".
Have to agree entirely. It also greatly depends where you end up at Ford and how that area develops, how old you are, how successful the projects are you work on and how much upper level support they get. And so one so forth. I didn't regret having sent my resume here but I regret not having left earlier.
Some people have the misfortune of landing in a toxic Ford work group AND having their attempts to transfer out of the group being continually blocked. Their health (physical and mental) suffers. They are gaslit. The toxic team members often also attempt to mess with their coworkers personal lives.
Others gave their all to Ford, making personal sacrifices and take it quite personally when they realize they were just a plug and play number to Bill.
I hope @OP never encounters either situation.