Pape-Dawson reviews

4.2

82% would recommend to a friend

(170 total reviews)

Trey Dawson

99% approve of CEO

85% positive business outlook

Pape-Dawson has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 170 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Pape-Dawson employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

170 reviews
1.0
Apr 18, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Health and 401k benefits are solid. Slightly above industry norm for San Antonio. There are some truly kind and smart people that can teach a lot. This is very team dependent though. Salaried employees get paid straight time overtime. If you are new to the industry and want some place to cut your teeth, or are having trouble finding work elsewhere, this is a good place to start. You'll learn quickly but only in the area of your project manager's "expertise". If you like surface-level "we care for our employees" company events, they have birthday celebrations, a Christmas/Holiday party, and a few other things sprinkled throughout the year. If your self-worth as a human being is directly correlated to how many hours you work or how much money you earn the company then this place is a perfect fit.

Cons

Not a place for a long term career. Expect to only learn in one "field" (i.e. commercial, residential, water resources, etc.). It is almost impossible to switch teams and learn new things. This is regardless of your work ethic. It's almost easier to do a bad job and get kicked off on to another team. Expect to put in 45 hours minimum regardless of how efficiently you complete tasks. Realistically expect to be pushed towards 50 hours. If you finish your work in 40 hours, expect to get more work to ensure you have to put in more hours. Be ready to play office politics if you want to progress in any meaningful manner. Even then don't expect promotions based on your work quality and quantity. Promotions are almost exclusively based on years of service, unless you know someone who knows one of the officers or owners. If you don't believe this and end up interviewing there, take a look at all the people with offices vs cubicles and take note of the age gap. To their benefit, titles don't mean anything as you are expected to do anything the PM or VP asks. If your teammate goofs off, you are expected to pick up the their slack. You yearly raise will not reflect much unless you go fight for it or threaten to leave. Your first 2-3 years will be 60% paper work, 40% actual design work at best. This is heavily dependent on the team you are assigned to. Very few teams break from this norm. Very traditional mentality, just to list a few things: no music (even with headphones), phone should not be seen unless during breaks (strictly 10-10:15 and 3-3:15), 8:01 is considered late (they will take note and use it during performance review). I only lasted over 3 years because my own goals (getting a PE) aligned with the working there just long enough for me to tough it out. Now that I am at a new place I realize how much I underestimated the scale of how bad that place is for your overall health. They do a great job of selling you the family oriented persona, but it is only surface deep. At the end of the day profits and deadlines drive everything regardless of the your personal stress. Parting words: Take the positive reviews with a grain of salt. Around mid-2016 they started a glassdoor "review push". Employees were selected in small batches to sporadically post positive reviews with thinly veiled threats of repercussion if they didn't comply. Take a note of the trend of positive reviews, especially those listing no "Cons". The place is either heaven or those reviews were somewhat dishonest, you decide.

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Pape-Dawson Response
7y
While these comments are incredibly painful to hear, we are grateful you have shared this feedback with us on your experience. This information has caused us to pause and truly reflect on each of the comments made. Being true to our mission to become the most respected engineering firm in Texas, as well as to honor our core values, starts with how we treat our employees. Their ability to share their view is a critical component in effective communication and impacts our ability to serve them, our clients and the communities we have the privilege to serve. We do want you to know we genuinely appreciate all of your contributions to the success of the team you were a part of - as well as the projects you worked - on while you were here. We respect your decision to share this feedback publicly and would welcome an opportunity to have a discussion with you directly on anything else you believe would be important for us to hear, as well as any suggestions you may have for us. We hope the next step you have taken as a professional engineer provides you with all you need for a rewarding career. From what you have shared with us, it appears we failed to meet those expectations and for that, we apologize.
2.0
Mar 24, 2022

Toxic Environment

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They definitely will pay you well to put up with the toxic culture. The benefits are really good, of course you have to put up with the varying levels and attitudes of management across the company. If you get LUCKY you might have a good experience under your project manager but you really have to get lucky. Good amount of PTO but you will struggle to use it.

Cons

They will make you feel like the expectation of working 50+ hours a week is “normal” because you just get to hang out with your buddies all day long. In your interview, they will say “occasional overtime” but it is definitely EXPECTED. But oh hey, here’s some free food for celebrating a random holiday! The second you try to set boundaries for a work life balance **without** having kids, you are not fitting the “Pape Dawson culture”. It seems that their culture preys on young engineers without families so they can push out their impossible deadlines and create a loyal employee. Once you have a family, you are allowed to work 40 hours a week or leave the office whenever you want, even mid-day. Since being out of the mental torture that was working for Pape Dawson I have flourished as a person and advanced in my career exponentially. PD likes to gatekeep different areas of knowledge until you “earn” the right when you get promoted to Engineer II, Engineer III, etc. I have learned everything at my new company that I wasn’t allowed to learn at PD and I feel so much more confident and capable than PD ever made me feel. Just hearing stories from other former PD employees about which Vice President or Project Manager told them they weren’t good enough or any other snide remark concerning work ethic makes me wonder how I stayed there so long. PD definitely picks their favorites and if you’re not a favorite, you’re irrelevant. I wish someone had warned me about this place before applying, so I hope that this review will make someone think twice before accepting the tempting job offer. In today’s age, you deserve to be excited about going to work not dreading it every single day waiting to see how you will be treated.

1.0
Apr 18, 2017

Total Waste

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fast paced environment and ability to learn engineering software typically used in the industry. In house training and periodic lunch and nearby.

Cons

Poor management, no opportunity for advancement. During interview you're promised the opportunity to grow and advance and unless your from the right school it won't happen. Overall it was a waste and your better off working for a smaller firm.

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Pape-Dawson Response
8y
Thank you for your feedback.
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Glassdoor has 190 Pape-Dawson reviews submitted anonymously by Pape-Dawson employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Pape-Dawson is right for you.