Fantastic Company to Work For, With a Major Catch
Pros
I've been working for Motorola Solutions for 6 years now, initially as a co-op and then later on as a full-time employee. In both employment statuses, I've worked the same position and I continue to work in the same position. One of the best parts of working for this company is it's mission: you're helping people be their best in the moments that matter. Stated differently, you're helping public safety do their job better. Nearly every day, through company newsletters or simply through conversation, we hear about how our designs and products make a difference in the world. It's honestly something to be proud of. In addition to all of that, they offer competitive employee benefits. Their PTO offering is higher than what I've heard about through other engineering firms. The health insurance is about the same as what I've heard through other engineering companies. Although I am a single unmarried male, so my health needs are minimal when compared to others. If you're a young professional interested in working for Motorola Solutions, then I would say that it is absolutely a place worth considering. Historically, Motorola Solutions has been an "older" company. That certainly had its benefits that I am a huge proponent of (the knowledge-base was immense), but it also wasn't the most appealing to young professionals. We've now grown our younger work force and I'm looking forward to see what their influence will be. Working in the downtown office is also a huge perk for young professionals. There is also a mixture of reviews on Glassdoor about this company. Some are unfortunately negative while others are positive and exciting. This is because the company was in a very volatile state a few years ago and unfortunately had to go through several layoffs. I somehow remained employed throughout all of that while others did not. For the past 1-1.5 years, we have remained stable and a large, tangible momentum is present throughout the company.
Cons
The best thing about working for Motorola Solutions is also a part of its most negative aspect: working for public safety customers. What this ultimately results in is having a very niche, very specific technical skill set. I work as an RF engineer within Motorola. After being in the same position for 6 years, I am in a state where I'd like to see what is next. For my very specific case, any other positions that are viable to me do not interest me. I enjoy what I do right now but I simply don't have the desire to work in the positions beyond what I'm doing right now. They simply don't interest me. If I look at opportunities that are outside of the company, and I want to continue living in the same location, there aren't too many positions available in other companies. I would very likely have to move in order to find a job that I'd be happy with. And I'm not ready to do that. Keep in mind that my scenario is specific to me. My advice to anyone looking to get hired at Motorola is to be sure that positions available beyond what you'd initially be hired for are of interest to you. As you start to develop your technical skill set, then a lot of it will very likely only be transferable within other positions of Motorola or other companies that deal with public safety customers. You may possibly be able to work for cellular companies or an indoor RF communications company. However, the technical skill set isn't as close of a match. That's the story for RF engineers at least. If you're getting hired for software development, marketing, finance, etc., then I don't believe you'll be in the same situation. I can't confidently comment on that though since that is outside of my field. If you're willing to move to other parts of the US, then you'll also likely be okay as you'd be able to find other opportunities elsewhere more easily. In addition, my salary is slightly lower than the national average. I have a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering and my pay is slightly below the national average. However, I did not attempt to negotiate that when I was initially hired.
