Pros
Your next job will seem so much better after this one.
Kontras
Where to start? Every word of previous reviews is true. *Company Culture* This place is like a cult with no followers, the word of the MD is final, no discussion, no compromise. Have a better solution to a problem? Too bad, wasn't his idea, not gonna happen. Want to improve the processes and procedures used? Sorry, it's been done this way for 30 years, it'll always be done this way. Want to have design or project management input? Not a chance. For any given project, the MD will have all meetings with customers, will make all design decisions and will keep everyone else firmly out of the loop. You will be spoon fed information as and when he deems it necessary, which often results in drawings needing massive revisions that were easily avoidable if the information was given out at the start. Speaking of drawings, be prepared to use SolidWorks - a 3D modelling software - to draw almost exclusively in 2D... It seems 3D modelling is overkill in design, and it's much better to do 2D and then physically draw out 1:1 drawings on the workshop floor - like it's 1975 again. Better yet, if the MD decides you can't be left alone to do 2D drawings, he will sit beside you and dictate every single line you should draw, for as long as it takes to get it right, which may be a while, because you won't have all the information he does. MD always knows best, he did a SolidWorks course once... Good luck ordering anything, there's a good chance the credit account at any given supplier will be on hold due to lack of payment. You will often have to find a new supplier to replace one that the company has not paid. *Facilities* The office is an old farmhouse, it is bitter cold in winter, and scorching in summer. The workshop is a glorified cow shed, even colder in winter and equally terrible in summer. You will be quietly judged for putting the heating on too much. *Advancement* In my time, someone left every 45 days in the first year. This is not a big company, that figure focuses on 4 positions within the company. You will be told you will have more responsibility, more opportunity to run projects and manage people, but due to the MD's crippling need to control every single part of the company, this does not happen. If you do get put in this position, you will have any possible authority over projects or people undercut and overridden at every turn, it's never true advancement. You will also be looked down on for not retaining the responsibility that the MD keeps taking away from you. *Fabrication* Absolute top marks to the workshop team. Somehow, they manage to produce fantastic results from mild steel, stainless, brass, wood and more, using nothing but 3 old angle grinders and a few metal working machines that are older than the earth itself. However, everything they do will not be good enough, the MD will make sure of that. Constant put downs, constant complaints, but never to the actual person he is complaining about, just to everyone else in the company. *Site Visits* Site visits are long, underpaid days. Be prepared to get up at 3am to catch the first flight from Belfast International to Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick, then catch the train to get into London for around 9am. You will then run around from site to site for a while before leaving again to get the 6pm or later flight home (whichever one happened to be cheaper). You will be paid from 8am to 5pm only. You will get £20 allowance for expenses on the day. £20...in London... you'll be lucky if you have anything left over after breakfast. While you're doing all that (Which will be on a Wednesday, you'll be told that's the quietest day, but really it's the cheapest) the MD will be flying into and out of Belfast City to London City via British Airways, he doesn't fly with his lowly staff on Easyjet, even if they are going to the same place. When on site, pray to whatever you believe in that your flight is not cancelled, as you will get no help to get home. More than once, some of the site fitters have had to hire cars and drive home from London, at their own expense. *Mistakes* Everyone makes mistakes, it's a part of life, we're only human. A good manager identifies the mistake, works with their team to resolve the mistake and then takes corrective action to stop it happening again if possible. Macspec's MD treats every mistake like it's the end of the world. It doesn't matter if you have missed a box of bolts off a site box for install, mistyped a dimension so a part requires a little rework or organised delivery for the wrong day (because the day changed, and you weren't told), you will be complained about to everyone else, but will not hear a word about it yourself. The same goes for failures of others that are out of your control. If a supplier does not meet a deadline, or parts are supplied wrong, that will be your fault. If parts are sent out to paint or galv and come back poor, that will be your fault. If a contractor storms off site miles away from you, that too will somehow be your fault. The only person who never makes a mistake is the MD. If he makes something that could be construed as a mistake, it is always whitewashed, minimised or deflected with zero accountability. *Funding* Every area of the business is chronically underfunded, the MD is completely unwilling to spend money on any real advancement. Office - the CAD computers were about 7 years old and had not been top spec even when new, they barely did their job, especially when using a 3D CAD package to draw in 2D. Workshop - as above, a few old grinders and machines available. Disposable ear plugs are reused as they don't like issuing new ones. I have watched workshop staff strip screw heads with the wrong screwdriver bits because we don't have, and are not allowed to get, the proper ones. *Final thoughts* There is a lot that I have missed above but further points may push this review into the realm of disbelief. There is always a favourite for the MD, who can do no wrong, and a villain, who can do no right. Who these people are changes fairly regularly. The design office works on one principle - bring in young, recently graduated engineers and get as much out of them as you can before they figure out that this company does not operate like other companies, that there are far better places to work out there. When the engineer works that out and quits, replace them with another inexperienced young engineer who will last another few months. To anyone reading this, especially if you are fresh out of uni, pass on this place, do not take the job, you will end up hating engineering, hating design and considering a different path entirely. If you take a job here, you will have no control over design or projects, no real responsibility, no glory and all the blame. If you stay long enough, you will find yourself afraid to answer emails from customers as whatever you say won't be considered correct by the MD, and you don't know what lie is the right one to tell the customer. Then you will get in trouble for not answering those emails...