Pros
I am from R&D engineering and i would like share a little more.
Career Path
- Technical Path (Software/Mechanical/Electrical/Product Architect, Technical Project Leader, Expert)
- Project Management
- Line/Group Management
Events (Pre-Covid days)
- Mini celebrations to promote culture/diversity such as Hari Raya, Chinese new year, Deepavali, Christmas etc
- free classes (Kick boxing/Yoga/cooking etc) in the evenings
- Wellness talks by doctors/specialists (Eg. health, parenting, exercise topics)
- Oktoberfest/Family Day/Dinner & Dance/Town hall (1 event per year)
- Sports competitions: Bowling/Badminton/Basketball/Soccer
- Different internal sports groups to join/interact with other colleagues from various departments (running, soccer, basketball, cycling, badminton, bowling, e-gaming, darts, table-tennis etc)
- Department team building activities (Go-kart, laser tag, canoeing, rock climbing etc)
Trainings
- In-house e-learning portal and courses are still growing (Product Life Cycle, Software Development Life Cycle, Agile, Cyber-security topics etc)
- Mini competitions/lucky draws organised by training committee
- Roadshows from various departments to promote new technologies/innovations/quality/cultures etc
- Knowledge sharing sessions on topics like presentation, project management, innovation etc
- International communities on some various technical topics like machine learning, via company internal social network.
Medical/Dental/Benefits
- Free medical from IHP listed clinics
- $600 for vacation/staycation/dental/spectacles/related courses for skills upgrading
Others
- Opportunity to travel - Business trips to Europe/Asia (Japan/Korea/China)
- Warm clothing allowance during trips to winter countries
- Possible delegation opportunities to Europe/Asia (depending on opportunities)
- Flexi work timing
- Near MRT
Cons
Salary
- Continental is one of the larger MNCs (in terms of R&D) in Singapore. As with big MNCs/organizations, there are certain structures in place.
- Yearly market review/benchmarking with consultants
- Having worked in Continental, working on premium/well known customer projects, new/complex technologies does increases your valuation
- Salary is a never ending topic which will never be satisfactory. Once a person get a certain amount of increment, the next question will be how to get even higher. For sure there are companies that pays higher but when times get tough, employees are asked to leave. Different strokes for different folks.
Processes & Documentation
- This is what most engineers/developers dislike and annoying but it is absolute necessary.
- It forces engineers/developers to think and pen down about different stages of the development. Why did they create this design, what were the considerations then, so that these information can be retrieved in case there are issues sometime later.
