KBR reviews

good benefits good management structure lots of opportunity for BRS and OAS employee's

For some reason I can't lock down my Job Country to Australia (it defaults to UK) but trust me I'm Australian. I’m an industry professional with 10-15 years experience, so I don’t view any company with rose coloured glasses. Suffice to say however, working at KBR has greatly exceeded my expectations. Many of the negative reviews of KBR that are posted come from the fact that positions in the US within KBR are generally very specialised. This is because there are powerful legal reasons why professionals do not work in any other areas outside of their specific area of competency. So, if management is constrained in the same way, there will be little prospect for people to move sideways or upwards beyond their specific field of competence. When you are pushed hard, and you are unhappy with your future prospects, you will feel dissatisfied. The job market in Australia is extremely buoyant at the moment, and amongst all the other EPC/ M companies to work for here, I would rate KBR at the top or near top. The experience here has well and truly exceeded my expectations. I have a mining background, and it has floored me that KBR has the ability to compete in both the mining and oil and gas industries. Thus, I have been able to play lead management roles in Oil and Gas Projects (some of the biggest in the world in fact) without having to shift companies, and despite the fact that my professional background has been in major Iron ore projects ($1Bn+). I have been promoted faster than I expected (by a good 8 years) to Project Manager, and still retain a strong background in my practice as a senior discipline engineer. Also, I know that my salary is greater than professionals with 10-15 years more experience than me. I was not expecting to break into Oil and Gas so readily, and yet the fascinating projects I've worked on have exceeded my expectations around what can be executed and how I can be a part of that on an international playing field. The sheer scale, complexity and talent required to deliver these projects is quite overwhelming, and yet I have been accepted readily into this kind of environment, and feel proud that I am working with, and influencing, experienced industry peers in an extremely challenging environment. I am thrilled that I stack up well as an international professional, and am competing with some of the best in the business for my profession and industry. I can only pray that I continue to have such opportunities so I'm keenly looking at long term LNG trends and how well positioned KBR is to meet those trends. Of course, there can be no guarantees, but I think KBR will be well positioned to continue to meet long term LNG and Mining demands, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. I can thank KBR for officially recognising, and helping me develop, my career passion which is the planning and delivery of major capital projects for mining and oil and gas clients. If I could continue to keep working with KBR in this kind of capacity for the next 20 – 30 years (whilst still being able to pursue my outside interests) and developing my competency and skills, I would gladly stay with the company. I know – you are probably thinking that I am some old dinosaur but trust me I am still young enough to know that staying around for 3 years at any place is a long time (I'm in my early to mid 30's). But, I am proud of the capability to be able to contribute to both the mining and oil and gas industries at the same time, without having to shift employers and I can thank KBR’s reputation in the market to be able to help me do that. Plus, the Projects I am working on allow me to have every second Friday off! This lets me pursue my other passion which is travel, so I have been able to visit places around Australia so that my weekends are REAL weekends if you know what I mean ;p And I don't work more than 45 hpw on average so the lifestyle balance, coupled with Australia's natural beauty, is very hard to beat locally and internationally for this kind of work. For those reading the other reviews, don't pay too much attention if they are undergraduates – you are expected to work hard and learn. If you are reading the more senior roles, please bear in mind what I said about the specializations. At the end of the day: pursue your passion. Don't listen to your detractors because you will always get criticism: focus on what you want for your life. Find the company that will help support that and success will follow when people sense you are passionate about what you do. Don't get me wrong: I deeply value my personal time and my time off, but if your concept of a happy work life is being able to take lots of time off and generally do as little as you can at at work then KBR will not give you that. Launch your own small startup, go work part-time or contribute in some other way. It is very satisfying to be rewarded for having a strong concept of what it means to deliver something that has been entrusted to you. I am fortunate that I am paid very well to pursue my passion (my salary is in the top 3% of all adult earners in Australia), in an environment of peers I respect and can have a beer, and a laugh with, at the end of a hard day. And, because of the good work hours, I can forget about it all as soon as I clock off each day, and enjoy my weekends!