AMD Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

Lots of freedom to innovate, Lots of focus and energy in the company to do well in the marketplace, good benefits, good employee oriented culture

Cons

Most key management jobs are in CA; company is a distant second in the market

Advice to Senior Management

continue to be employee oriented and provide the good benefits to employees; focus on how to become a market leader in some categories

Pros

Quick in decision making
Marketing oriented management style

Cons

Easy to make mistake
Low moral among engineers

Advice to Senior Management

Let the engineers participate in the decision-making process.

Pros

Grossly understaffed, so everyone picks up big chunk of work
People are friendly.
Relaxed culture, although outings have dramatically reduced in last few years.
Exposed to cutting edge technology.

Cons

Middle management don't take any decisions.
Top heavy
Reviews are unfair.
Money situation always tight...small pie, too many mouths to feed. Money that trickles down to engineers is pennies on the dollar.

Advice to Senior Management

Decisions are seldom taken by middle management. Bureaucratic system that moves at snail's pace on important decisions. Even though key folks are leaving company, management has shown little signs of concern. It validates theory among engineers that they are seen just as a resource.

Pros

1) Awesome co-workers.
2) Fun work.
3) Flexible timing including the possibility to work from home pretty regularly.
4) Cheap medical benefits.

Cons

1) Management not transparent.
2) Promotions are very rare.
3) Not easy to move to other groups
4) It seems to be very political at higher up levels.
5) Lots of false promises with regards to promotions and raises.

Advice to Senior Management

Please make good decisions on products we deliver.

Pros

Cutting edge technology, fast moving, underdog against massive competitor, cool toys. Management is people-focused, compensation is good. I'm a fan of the place I work, and that's relatively rare.

Cons

The process can be overbearing for the size company that it is, but it works and management tends to be flexible.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing whatever it is that you're doing, it seems to work. We're on a good trajectory towards achieving the goal.

Pros

Some great technical minds work here. Big reasons to want to work here - a challenging industry, very talented co-workers, flexible work schedules.

Cons

Some very poor managerial skills in certain teams (middle management). No team building events or any importance assigned to such things. Management shows poor understanding of the fact that sustained high-pressure work environments can be demotivating, especially when zero-promotions/zero-merit-raises/pay-cuts are enforced. People who 'make' themselves visible just by speaking a lot in meetings and emails seem to benefit disproportionately (by impressing middle management) than those who make real contributions. This is another sign of technically incompetent middle management and demoralizing.

Advice to Senior Management

A workforce that feels exploited during tough economic times, coupled with some poor middle management, will produce poor quality output and will jump ship at the first opportunity.

Pros

Great experience, you learn a lot about some of the cutting edge technologies that are going into computers in the near future.

Cons

Basically impossible to get promoted on your own merit- you have to play the game and make the right friends. This, of course, then means that you have a lot of people at the upper levels who aren't really smarter or better than their lower-down colleagues, but are adept at backstabbing. May just be a feature of the group I was in, though.

Advice to Senior Management

It may be expensive, but AMD needs better managers. They end up promoting a lot of technical people sideways into management, where they are no good as leaders and unhappy.

Pros

I work in Product Engineering and the environment is very collaborative and solutions focused. In general, product information and experience are shared and flow easily. Mentoring is part of the culture and there is an "open door" policy among at all levels in the organization.

Cons

Upper management is extremely tight-lipped about future changes, even org changes. This is partly understandable, but also frustrating.

Because we deal with product shipments, we have to interface with overseas facilities. This requires work around the clock, especially for when new products arrive. This can be very difficult and stressful and certainly isn't the best environment for everyone.

Bonuses and stock shouldn't be counted on as part of compensation. They don't seem to be given much, at least over the past 3 years during the weak market period.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't hold back when you are planning re-orgs. It isn't a bad thing and we're all smart engineers. Tell us things will be changing and give us an idea of how. You don't need to hide it.

Also, decent monetary recognition would be a nicer way of saying "job well done" than a pat on the back in a meeting or a team outing.

Pros

Was able to learn a lot and have many opportunities for career movement. Pay in the Semiconductor industry is typically very good.

Cons

Semiconductor is rough industry. Company has a bit of a chew you up and spit you out attitude - don't really care about people.

Advice to Senior Management

The company is getting more and more political. Gurard against this or you won't get the very best from people.

Pros

Good people as peers
Base compensation is good as bonusses are infrequent
Austin is a nice place to live
Interesting technlogogies, especially for hardware designers

Cons

Bonusses are infrequent
Poor execution
Not much training or other support infrastructure
Management is mostly good old boy silos
Lots of management spin about things getting better soon
Very little opportunity for job rotations
Much business/market risk due to the competative environment

Advice to Senior Management

Break down the good old boy silos
Implement better processes for program execution
Encourage and facilitate internal job changes or promotions