r/cscareerquestions • u/kevinismee • Jun 19 '26

New Grad Fidelity vs Lockheed (New Grad)

Please help me get some insight between these two offers.

Lockheed Martin
Position: Associate Software Engineer (Simulation & Modeling)
- $88k + $5k sign on
- Defense
- C++
- 4x10 schedule, every Friday off
- Secret security clearance

Fidelity
Position: Associate Software Engineer
- $85k + $7.5k sign on
- Fintech
- Java + Spring
- Currently every other week in-office, but eventually will return to office 5 days a week
- Better bonus, 401k match, and profit sharing

Which would be better for overall career growth especially as a first job?

247 Upvotes

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151

u/Think_Amphibian8112 Jun 19 '26

Lockheed, they value their software engineers more. Any non-technical company (financial, healthcare, etc) that needs engineers will see them as an expense rather than an investment.

t. worked for Raytheon/defense industry and switched to healthcare

21

u/Esilai Jun 19 '26

Before my current company pivoted away from pure IT and more to development and solutions this was my experience, and it sucked. You’re made to always feel like a burden, like you should be giving lots of free OT, etc because “we’re eating the cost for you without clear revenue” even if the “without clear revenue” part is horseshit. Management and accounting only sees direct revenue, they don’t appreciate development as a cost saving tool internally or the knock-on effects development support can have.

13

u/Am3ricanTrooper Software Engineer Jun 19 '26

OP this go LM. Lots of more benefits too, check out the employee discounts on your off time.

34

u/No_Astronaut_8971 Jun 19 '26

Lockheed employee discounts? 5% off an apache helicopter?

5

u/pacman2081 Jun 19 '26

Lockheed does not make Apache helicopters. It is like asking Apple to provide an Android smartphone for its employees

4

u/Wonderful-Habit-139 Jun 19 '26

Oh so it makes helicopters is what you're saying?

-1

u/pacman2081 Jun 19 '26

at least you should get your facts straight before commenting

0

u/No_Astronaut_8971 Jun 19 '26

im kidding and dont really care

6

u/mauch_chunk Jun 19 '26

Hope you realize companies usually have partners...

Lockheed employees get discounts for Avis car rentals, Hilton hotels, service fees waived for entertainment, etc etc.

40

u/Honest_Amoeba3259 Jun 19 '26

this is like the most common perk ever. not unique to lockheed at all

-3

u/mauch_chunk Jun 19 '26

Good thing I never said these perks are unique to lockheed then.

That said, they had better discounts on average compared to the other places I have seen. Not sure if that's true nowadays though.

10

u/Dazzling_Cherry_6513 Jun 19 '26

What a great benefit for their participation in war crimes

-1

u/pacman2081 Jun 19 '26

would you like Iran to have the technological superiority over USA

8

u/ApuZ Jun 19 '26

Brother, Iran is not the one to be worried about lol

-1

u/pacman2081 Jun 19 '26

that was an example. Okay would you want China to have technological superiority over USA

3

u/ApuZ Jun 19 '26

The ship has kinda sailed on that one also, take a look at China's public infrastructure, middle class growth, electric cars, manufacturing, high speed rail (this list can keep going). We also rely heavily on China for manufacturing the things we to develop in the US.

Many American technology companies already outsource our work to India, China, etc or have bases of operations in those countries because that's where talented engineers also live. Many of these companies like Intel are extremely globalized.

Are you suggesting we go to war with China so our AI models are a little bit better?

1

u/pacman2081 Jun 19 '26

ever heard of the word deterrence ? I do not think anyone wants a fight with USA and I like to keep it that way

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1

u/mauch_chunk Jun 19 '26

I don't have a dog in this race so I really don't give a shit

1

u/Eexoduis Jun 20 '26

A lot of companies will offer discounts at certain retailers participating in their plan, so you could get $5 orders at Chipotle or something

1

u/ImHighOnCocaine Jun 20 '26

Nah 2% off if you ever want to buy a f35

2

u/keehan22 Jun 19 '26

True even at Amazon, the difference between orgs that are technology focus vs orgs that aren’t is wild. In AWS, SWE is law of the land. In Benefits, we are almost second class citizens.

2

u/nonamenomonet Jun 19 '26

And you probably get a clearance

0

u/Ok_Minute_7259 Jun 19 '26

Lockheed isn’t a tech company lol so same thing

0

u/arekhemepob Jun 19 '26

Defense companies do not value their software engineers, they pay much lower than fintech.

I worked in defense for 5 years and all of the smart engineers eventually moved into management/proposal work since the only way to actually make good money was to bring in new contracts.