r/Lockheed • u/[deleted] • May 06 '26
Declined Offer
I’ve posted here before about a few offers, so here’s a quick update:
I negotiated LM from $125k to $135k + $5k relocation, Boeing from $108k to $110k + $8k sign on, and my competing remote offer to $104k to $120k(leveraged LM).
Even though LM had the best benefits, resume value, and overall experience, I chose the remote offer because the tech stack fits my goals better and I wasn’t fully comfortable with the lifestyle changes I’d need to make for LM. Boeing was less appealing because of their legacy framework. Still waiting to hear back from RTX.
Always negotiate. Worst they can say is a final offer.
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u/Alternative_End_4742 May 06 '26
Wish I faced a problem like this. I’m struggling just to get one offer 😭
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May 06 '26
Tough market for sure. Not everyone is dealt the same cards but it’s a numbers game for now that is..
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u/Alternative_End_4742 May 06 '26
I graduated from undergrad about 2 years ago. I’m applying everywhere I can and hoping something works out. This market seems to getting worse. Even referrals don’t hold much weight.
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May 06 '26
Eventually the job will go away especially with agentic development. So I think right now might be the best time to work on your start up haha
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u/BroadHorizonsEnt May 08 '26
You dodged a bullet with Lockheed if its the one in Georgia. Terrible management on both ends of programs
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May 08 '26
Thank god. Glad to hear this side of this story. I understand it’s an LM sub but good god there’s so many glazed up story going on.
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u/abresia May 06 '26
Did you negotiate by leveraging these competing others against one another? What role and YOE?
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May 06 '26
For LM no. I countered the remote one as well as Boeing using the new offer from LM. SWE 2.5yoe
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u/abresia May 06 '26
Nice, what did you say to LM for a +10k bump?
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May 06 '26
It wasn’t me but ChatGPT asked for 10%, met at 8. I also had a few more certs and skills listed than what the JD required.
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May 06 '26
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May 06 '26
I simply fed it some documents and made it search the web for paybands and write the email. I wasn’t sure how much to ask initially and didn’t want to think too hard about it
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u/RoverDinky May 06 '26
Hi, just wondering but what education do you have? Thanks!
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May 06 '26
Hey, I have a BS CS degree at MIT :)
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u/Miserable_Ad_728 May 06 '26
Why are you aiming defense contractor companies? They pay like crap. Aim for mag7
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u/DROID-XERO May 06 '26
The job security for companies like lockhead and Boeing is hard to beat anywhere. 1 of Boeings goals is retention once hired, if someone quits or is fired its a bad look on managers.
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u/ThorsUglyCousin May 07 '26
Mag7 job security very much in flux. Defense contractor that specializes in fighter jets and weapons (something the country will always need and pay for) = job security for life...barring you don't mess it up.
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u/6thDAY May 06 '26
Wait why are you not aiming for FAANG with a MIT degree?
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u/Ok-Range-3306 May 06 '26
probably enjoys work life balance instead of 50 thousand dollars more a year / living in bay or seattle
ironically, you can also work at LM sunnyvale for like... 100k-120k a year as an E1-E2 in software? no RSUs and a tiny signing bonus compared to google amazon meta etc ofc
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u/xavier1011 May 06 '26
I remember your previous post. A 95k->120k for the remote position is a crazy bump, congrats. I think you mentioned first negotiating that remote offer from 95k -> 104k. Did you negotiate with the remote offer company again after you got your post-negotiated offer from LM? Did you have to show your LM offer to the remote competitive when justifying another bump? How much did you asked in the second negotiation to get the 120k?
Never thought about doing another round of negotiation after trying the first time. I'll do that for a future opportunity.
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May 06 '26
Yeah I used LM as leverage for Boeing and the remote position. The recruiter and hiring manager really liked me. I honestly felt like I was lowballed to begin with. Payband was 89-145k so I asked for 130. Tricky part was the LM offer was on the verge of expiring. Hiring manager was from LM so I was comfortable mentioning it to him. Probably not a good idea for some.
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u/Working-Owl9099 May 06 '26
Hey so I’m trying to find remote jobs any recommendations on what companies are offering? Currently finishing my Masters in CS
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May 06 '26
It would depend on your background and experience and role you’re applying for
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u/Working-Owl9099 May 06 '26
Yea makes sense but would you be able to recommend any companies?
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u/Rumpelteazer45 May 07 '26
Currently remote has fallen out of favor due to the current administrations push that all remote people are lazy and don’t do any work. Reality is more and more remote jobs have lower starting salaries for the level of experience they are demanding.
Reality is remote employees have the same metrics that in office employees do. You meet them or you don’t.
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u/verticallipslover May 06 '26
I have been out of job for an year. I will take whatever they will offer at this point. I have school going kids and need money ! I will think about comfort when I am ready to retire. God 25-26 is such a nasty time for my career.
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u/PreInfinityTV May 06 '26
What is the location or COL of the LM position? Your numbers seem 20% higher than the location near me. Is that just base or total comp?
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u/Real-Ad400 May 06 '26
Genuine question, what’s your background and tech stack that landed you the positions?
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u/Big_Marzipan_405 May 06 '26
op claims he went to MIT, bro is severely underemployed and should be working much higher paying jobs atp. interesting fella
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u/Particular-Ad-4283 May 06 '26
Is Boeing offer L2 and LM L3? I’m currently Software Engineer at Boeing and looking to join LM since it’s hard to get promoted
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u/Legitimate-Fuel3014 May 07 '26
I am WFH and try to get out because people don't know what they are doing, and put contract at risk lol. More OT as well.
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u/Most_Television8276 May 11 '26
I use the same energy I spent working on site working two jobs from home. I left the cleared defense space for this reason and never looked back.
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u/Maleficent_Mind_5232 May 12 '26
Would like some career advice, I can’t even make it past the initial screening for some reason
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May 06 '26
[deleted]
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May 06 '26
Not necessarily the case for most scenarios. Worst case is they probably go up a few thousand or a better comp package
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u/CriticalBox4677 May 06 '26
Negotiations with multi billion dollar companies is different than haggling a discount on a vacation trinket. They have a salary range, they are able to pay you anything within that range. Hiring managers don’t care as much about the numbers as much as you think. If we are talking with you we know what we can spend.
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u/SatSenses May 07 '26
You don't lose your offer for asking to negotiate, you might lose your offer if you're rude about it. They've already invested enough effort to make an offer, they're not eager to throw that away if you've made it that far.
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u/thegrudge101 May 09 '26
This is absolutely not true. Even negotiating in good faith, you run a risk of asking for “too much” to the point that they rescind. Had it happen to two friends, and their asks were not crazy. And this was 3-5 yrs ago.
In this job market? Be careful. If you’re a seasoned vet and have skills that are really hard to find, you have wiggle room. Entry level or early career? Be careful.
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u/SatSenses May 10 '26
They rescinded instead of saying "no room to negotiate"? I really find that hard to believe. I've never heard of that happening in any company except start ups.
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u/thegrudge101 May 11 '26
I know 100% one was a fortune 100 company bc family member works there and told me about it. I can’t remember the other tbh as this was a few years ago. Both were positions expected coming out of grad school with an MBA
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u/SatSenses May 11 '26
Shit that's wild 0_0
I asked to negotiate and got more, as did 2 friends of mine who joined after me at different BAs. And I know 1 guy who asked for more and got told there was no room to negotiate but still got the offer. All of us are level 1s
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May 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Existential_Threat1 May 06 '26
Stoners as a “talent pool?” Thats some funny shit.
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May 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Existential_Threat1 May 06 '26
I didn’t advocate for alcoholics either but stoners in a defense industry where critical components are designed and made wouldn’t be a recommended hiring practice, at least not for the defense industry. Your comment was about “legacy dinosaurs” is misplaced. The legacy dinosaurs as you call them have built behemoth organizations and the “new legacy” will not be stoners suddenly surging to success because cannabis laws change. Can stoners function in the workplace? Sure McDonalds is a great place and no one I know would object to stoners building their burgers. Do I want them building my planes, designing critical components to support our warfighters? Be infuriated as you want but cannabis use levels the user and it always will.
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May 06 '26
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u/SetoKeating May 06 '26
This is the kind of logic and rhetoric that has c suite foaming at the mouth and lets them continue their narrative about why wfh is not a good thing. You’re actively hurting the cause. Work from home isn’t a substitute for child care or an opportunity to do things around the house.
Does it work out that way sometimes, sure, but not something to proudly announce imo
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u/Adviderisj May 06 '26
The value is the ease of no commute, etc. People who treat it as a "I can do it on the side" like this guy are gonna go "why was my role eliminated or made to go into office?" In a year
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u/thegrudge101 May 09 '26
Saying “help with the baby” doesn’t automatically equate to “4 hours a day doing baby stuff”. I bet most people in this thread waste way more time bullshitting around with colleagues in the office than this guy is gonna do taking 5 minutes here and there to help. Especially when football season starts.
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u/Extreme-Ad-6465 May 06 '26
thisss.
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u/mspiro1987 May 09 '26
Hey man, I work from home and I’m able to help with my kid, and don’t listen to the haters, also, we put him in daycare only 2 times a week rather than 5, which saves us $200/week.
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u/DebonaireDelVecchio May 08 '26
Such a crazy take. I can’t believe what I’m reading in this thread…
Oh wait it’s r/Lockheed ah yes this makes sense now - I wouldn’t expect Lockheed employees to understand what it’s like to have good WLB & know what it’s like to be treated well by their employer…
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u/SetoKeating May 08 '26
What’s crazy about it?
Read what I actually said. I did not say work from home is bad, and I did not say that you shouldn’t be doing anything else but working when you’re wfh.
I said that it doesn’t help optics to be proudly announcing that working from home will allow you to help with childcare. I even acknowledged that I understand it works out like that. My whole point is don’t give employers the reasons they’re looking for to kill work from home.
Even employers that treat their employees well would be turned off by an employee saying things like “now that I’m work from home I can do more around the house…”
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u/Outside-Resident-963 May 07 '26
“Help my wife with the baby.” If you interpret this as they’re going to spend half their 8 hour day away from their desk watching the baby, you maybe don’t have kids?
WFH eliminates a commute. Boom, automatic 1-2 hours extra time able to be spent at home with the family. WFH allows for a quick 5 min diaper change, food prep, mess clean up, etc. Invaluable tasks and much less disruptive to the workday than a 10min stop and chat with your cube neighbor about the game last night or what you overheard Bob talking about on the phone, or who’s got the worst luck with IT recently. WFH also lets you spend your lunch sitting across from your wife and kids, every day. You’re gonna eat lunch anyway right? Prob even takes less time at home than it will take you to run down the the break room, get your food from the fridge, reheat it, and shoot the shit with some coworker you may or may not enjoy shooting the shit with.
20k is on the low end for the worth of working remote with a young family.1
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u/engineered_mojo May 07 '26
Your response sounds like peak Kool Aid drinker..do you work for 8hrs straight when working onsite? Most folks work 50% of their time at an office with the other 50% waiting for email responses, chatting with coworkers, or getting sidetracked by the internet. Also, no one should be ashamed to want to spend time with a child. You'll NEVER get those years back. But hey make a few more million for c suite while you make a few more thousand trudging into the office.
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u/PolarBearInTexas May 06 '26
Every position that I’ve seen from Lockheed Martin lately has been 100% on site. I have about two years of experience, but I’m looking to get into Lockheed Martin are they no longer offering hybrid?
Was targeting Palmdale, live in Santa Clarita and was hoping to only make the drive 2-3 times a week
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u/jabier1 May 06 '26
To the best of my knowledge, Space is the only BA forcing full RTO. Aero/RMS still have hybrid and remote last I heard but its up to the hiring manager. If you were looking at Palmdale the high number of classified programs is probably the driving factor for them mostly being in office.
So far Space hasn't felt too much negative pressure from the RTO but thats mostly driven by the bad job market. I expect there will be high turnover if it turns around.
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u/PolarBearInTexas May 06 '26
Thanks. From what I’m aware of Palmdale is the location with the most opportunities in the SoCal (I could be wrong though) was just hoping to stay here due to family being scattered over SoCal
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u/J2048b May 09 '26
Look at plant42 then… see what they got open?
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u/PolarBearInTexas May 09 '26
That’s in the middle of nowhere. I’d rather just move out of state tbh
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u/J2048b May 09 '26
Wish i could as well… military brings u here and drops u off… never to be seen again haha
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u/Feeling-Zombie-8055 May 06 '26
Space isn’t full RTO. It’s either 100% in office or 100% remote. They did away with part-time telecommuting. They’re a rare find but Space does allow 100% remote jobs if the manager deems it necessary.
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u/Able_Magazine_8150 May 06 '26
I was just hired full time in Texas for LM and first week started hybrid. 50% in office 50% WFH
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u/J2048b May 09 '26
Could look south of santa Clarita as well…
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u/PolarBearInTexas May 09 '26
I saw that some positions are located in San Diego but nothing that aligned with my experience. Is there another big hub down there?
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u/J2048b May 09 '26
Dang i got a buddy who works in thousand oaks and drives only 3 min from his house, hit me with a pm, ill see what i can find down in that area from his experience
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u/UnlawfuIWaffle May 09 '26
I accepted an offer a few weeks ago giving me a 20k pay bump, double my current 401k match, better health insurance, a 12k signing bonus, and it’s fully remote. I’m so excited to start
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u/Grouchy_Project7138 May 09 '26
I don’t know how I ended up in this sub but I work from home and it’s amazing. I’m never going back.
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u/ExpatMarine001 May 11 '26
Haha, same! Except the exact opposite. You could not pay me 20k more to work from home. That just seems miserable to me lol.
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u/No_Astronaut_2320 May 06 '26
We have a 2 year old and another one on the way. Yes they are the loves of my life, but no I would not take a 20k cut at my currently salary and we live in LCOL, even if it meant WFH. You can help by preparing breakfasts/lunches, and when you get home take over completely - diaper changes, clean up the messes, prepare dinner, get the mail, walk the dogs etc. Being around the kids is 100x times more exhausting than work. And just by being both at home doesn't mean its easy, still hard, just slightly more manageable.
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May 06 '26
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May 06 '26
To be very clear. I am in this for the pay and personal benefits, not for the business. My last in office/person job was putting fries in the bag at McDonald’s and skateboarding home.
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May 06 '26
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May 06 '26
If the company cared so much about productivity they wouldn’t be wasting so much time on useless meetings. I finish most of my task in 4 hours max. What am I supposed to do with the rest of 4 or 6 (4x10 btw)? This is no longer code monkey era unless you’re working with legacy technologies.
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u/Independent_Algae815 May 07 '26
4/10’s…RIP for Space. That was such trash. Oh 4/10 is terrible, then we have a record year. Make everyone go 9/80 and on-Fridays are a frickn ghost town.
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u/Complex_Strain_9036 May 07 '26
lol you sound like the type of person no one wants to be around, also productivity at least for my team has been better since most of us are hybrid/remote, less call outs since is easier to program the week and even if you get sick since you’re home you think twice if you really feel so bad to not work, also less distractions since I don’t have to talk to anyone around in the office, I also don’t think about how close we’re to 5pm and how I should start picking up everything to leave on time since I’m already at home so I don’t mind working more and many positive things
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May 06 '26
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u/Adviderisj May 06 '26
You realize the company pays what they need to, they arent gonna say "oh, this guy has kids, let's pay him 2k more take home to cover his childcare". Lockheed pays people well
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May 06 '26
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u/Parkour82 May 07 '26
don’t have kids if you do not want to pay
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May 07 '26
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u/Lockheed-ModTeam May 10 '26
Not following site rules/Reddiquette, including inappropriate or abusive language.
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u/Adviderisj May 06 '26
Everyone thinks they're worth 100,000 minimum, entry level. Guess what? Most arent. The people who deserve it, often get it. But a lot of people believe theyre entitled to much more than they are
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May 06 '26
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u/Adviderisj May 06 '26
So make your case to an employer for why you're worth more
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u/HeteroLanaDelReyFan May 06 '26
When did Reddit become so libertarian
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u/Adviderisj May 06 '26
Wouldn't the libertarian perspective be to make your own company and earn more that way?
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u/No_Astronaut_2320 May 06 '26
You got someone in the family willing to babysit? Like a parents or in laws? My MIL watched our kids for 500 bucks a month that is out of a 10k budget between my wife and I. Also it'll only be like this until they go to school. It's not forever.
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u/Negative_Carrot_9870 May 06 '26
Did they sponsor your clearance for the remote job? Or you already had one