Recently got an offer for a position at Motional. Does anyone have any thoughts on Motional vs. General Motors? The offer is TC of 200k not including stock/rsu and the location is in Pittsburgh. TC: 115k YOE: 4.5 #auto #offer
Also congratulations on the offer. I'm assuming you're in GM Michigan.
Thanks!!
Motional should be no brainer since it's almost doubling your tc 🤔
That's a good point. I would at least like to know its a tolerable place to work before relocating and moving to the AV industry.
Thats a good point! You should read the reviews and know your team well since its team dependent! But overall honestly its a shit show, bad product with very high attrition! They are trying to throw more money at people hoping to make progress hence the generous offer
Motional is late to the game, their management is a shitshow (karl I love though), and their product is rough. Go for the money and the 60+ hr weeks. They'll authorize a 40k signing bonus for you if you play hard to get, also. I didn't have a good gut feeling about them, and although the cost of living in Pittsburgh is lower, so is the quality of life. But if you're in it for the cash it might be worth it to grind it out at motional.
How is the quality of life in Pittsburgh lower? I think it was voted one of the best places to live, over several years. You don’t need 1M+ to buy a house in a good school district. Presumably, OP is in Michigan. Weather is largely comparable.
Weather is comparable, but the after winter slush season in Pittsburgh is way worse. Housing is much, much older in Pittsburgh, air quality is abysmal, traffic is worse (if you're commuting and not WFH). Metro Detroit to Pittsburgh is a weird change. There's much, much more to do in the Metro Detroit area. It's not as "lively", but Pittsburgh doesn't really have any big suburbs- whereas all of Metro Detroit is suburbs with things to do. Making friends in Pittsburgh was harder for me, too. I feel like the vast majority of people in Pittsburgh, grew up in Pittsburgh- it's like everyone already knows eachother (but obviously this is just my impression) I personally thought Pittsburgh was a miserable place full of awesome people. Detroit is much more "balanced".
That's some helpful feedback. I am in Michigan, but my family is much closer to Pittsburgh. I have not been impressed with management at GM, so its interesting to hear Motional described as fairing so poorly in that regard. Generally, GM management has repeatedly screwed people who deserve promotions and made idiotic engineering decisions based on the broken CAP system. I've been verbally abused by management with no recourse from HR despite my filing a complaint. My only option was to move teams to get away from that manager and I don't particularly enjoy where I landed. Not to mention they laid off my first boss and my mentor which completely destroyed my trust in the company. The layoffs were poorly executed and largely targeted older people with higher salaries. Young engineers got rehired instantly after being laid off. I have no idea how that was legal to fake the age distribution of the layoffs.
Management is sucky at more companies than you think. They are not after making employees feel valued or happy. Their main concern is: money for the business or themselves (tends to follow the former). Saving money on people is obviously saving money for the business, right? Penny wise, pound foolish. Your experience can be reproduced at a number of other companies.
OP, Based on your post, I recommend you take the new job. The fact that you transferred internally to get away from a bad manager will continue to haunt you and stunt your career at GM. Take the new job. Fresh start. More money. Closer to family. Pittsburgh is more of a tech hub than Metro Detroit. If the new job doesn’t work out, switch after 1 year. You will learn some new tech stacks, tools, etc.
Thank you for the advice! I can't say that switching teams/managers to escape a toxic one was all bad though. I got a promotion and raise out of it. But I think that my experience with GM management is that it is poor and filled with people who make empty promises and agreements to manipulate people into making them look good. The person who hired me and originally sold me on the job is someone I would compare to an Army recruiter. I can't imagine it being any worse at Motional. At least the pay is better and they are less bound by process. I would think the ability to actually solve problems rather than debate what team should own a problem would be refreshing.
That's an incredible offer. I moved to motional a while back and I'm not getting anywhere near 200k. Can you share a bit more about your TC breakdown and level at motional?
OP, what was your decision? Also, are you a SWE?
I decided to take the position. I have no doubt that I could return to GM if I don't like the role. The first couple months are 100% remote so I really only have 10 months in person to make it a year. If at that point I don't like it, I'll look at something else. Seems like a great opportunity to contribute to an interesting project. If I'm wrong, so be it. Its not the end of the world
Congrats! Don’t worry too much about it. The increase in TC alone is worth it. Like you said, you can always move around if you don’t like it.
I joined Motional mid year, and I like it being here. Of course, as every company it depends on what team you join, but they are trying to keep talent, so you can work 40+ hours. Noone in my team works more than 45+ hours per week AFAIK
Folks, how was motional lately? I’m having hiring manager interview scheduled with them.
Quick question, does your GM TC include your bonus? Or is it mostly base?
Including 10% bonus, 105 base
A lot of people from Aptiv moved laterally to Motional when Aptiv had layoffs in 2020. 200k base in Pittsburgh is amazing. It seems to be lower cost of living than Detroit area. However I'd recommend you look at the job market in the area should things go sour at Motional.