AMD Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

Very capable and smart engineers.
Teamwork. Knowledge is shared.
I am adequately compensated (don't know how it compares to industry though).
Great location and building if you live in South Austin.

Cons

Too much roadmap churn. Projects are cancelled too late after sunk costs even though the information was available to make the decision earlier. Not enough resources to support concurrent projects leads to stress and burnout.

Advice to Senior Management

Look at the total roadmap (versus segments) and validate that it is executable. Server SOCs are increasingly getting lower resource priority below the many APUs. No more lip service on servers -- walk the talk!

Pros

AMD pays well and has excellent benefits.

Cons

The company is going through some major changes. They are a ship without a rudder. Even with the new CEO it is highly speculative if AMD will succeed or fail. Even if it's the former, understand that the culture probably won't change, that it's more important for you to "play the game" than it is to simply excel at your job and let your work do the talking. Recent downsizing eliminated a lot of very smart, hard-working employees and kept more than a few mid-level managers who are largely the root cause for AMD's problems in the first place. In a word, "politics." The managers are more interested in doing what they can to save their jobs than they are to provide a roadmap that makes sense or management that nurtures excellence.

Advice to Senior Management

Now that you've managed to eliminate your highest paid (i.e., experienced) employees, you'd better hire smart. Watch mid-level management and continue to clearly communicate a single focused direction for AMD.

Pros

good information sharing within the company mostly

Cons

not a lot of opportunities to move up

Advice to Senior Management

get a real vision

Pros

work with very good talented people

Cons

too much consensus driven culture

Advice to Senior Management

decide and act quickly

Pros

AMD has many good, smart people. Most people at AMD are energetic, focused, and genuinely strive towards the best interests of the company.

Cons

AMD is still growing. It lacks some of the infrastructure required for a company of it's size to run efficiently. As with any company, there are still some people and groups that internally behave with a protectionist, zero-sum-game mentality, but they are in the minority.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce our focus on 365 tape out to production time line. Focus more on consistent and predictable delivery for customres.

Pros

Coworkers were smart and dedicated to problem solving and resolving issues, and attempting to come up with solutions to common problems.

Cons

Management was terrible at working with, and listening to the people that worked for them. They had their own agenda which included only themselves, and how much of a bonus they can pull for themselves at the expense of others.

Advice to Senior Management

Start listening to your employees. Treat them fairly and with respect. Work with other teams in a fluid manner, and stop butting heads with the other teams that make the orginizaton work. It takes effort from everyone to make the company work. Not just your convoluted ideas that you think might work so you can get a bigger bonus. Stop taking everything as a personal attack when something does not go your way.

Pros

People in the tranches with you are brilliant. The only thing coming to work for.

Cons

Pay abysmal, comparatively speaking. Bottom line is more important than quality work. Management only concerned about looking good. No career path. No hope to advance. Kill or be killed mentality.

Advice to Senior Management

Get off the "2 Bobs" mentality and recognize how lucky you are to have employees that really care about the success of the company. They're frustrated with you, not because they go unrecognized, which they do, but because you aren't listening to their ideas on how to make AMD more successful.

Pros

Great pay compared to other companies!
Flexible schedule most of the time!
Good benefits!

Cons

Tired of explaining who AMD is to others!
Tired of barely earning a profit or losing money every quarter!

Advice to Senior Management

Let's stop being reactive and start being proactive! We don't have to ride Intel's coat tails anymore!

Pros

AMD has a nice campus and many people are trying to do the right things to bring success.

Cons

Too many "home grown" employees squash innovation and improvements that could benefit AMD and help it mature into a world-class organization. There is a "not from here" mentality that prevents adoption of many excellent ideas and improvements. This attitude has stifled innovation and frustrated and neutered many excellent engineers that have been hired in recent years.

Advice to Senior Management

Avoid saying "that's not how we do it here" or "that's not how we've done it before" unless you follow it up with "let's try it out" or "how can we leverage that to make improvements". And they really need to get over themselves and start firing some of the "home grown" driftwood that is cluttering all levels of management.

Pros

The computing sector continues to be an interesting and exciting market. AMD has some very good technology to offer its customers.

Cons

The company hierarchy is pretty flat, with little room for advancement. Promotions tend to be based more on a popularity contest than talent and skill.