Applied Materials Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

The best things about AMAT while I worked were the employees and managers that worked there. Everyone knew my name (though I didn't know all of theirs) and they treated me kindly, even managers of other groups. Work environment is very casual and working hours are flexible. Managers and co-workers alike were always open to answering questions, helping out, and providing positive feedback.

Cons

While I worked there, I feel I made slow progression. Sometimes things will get put off or delayed for weeks, and I feel things could have been more organized. During downtime, I was struggled to find anything to work on since I felt I was wasting time.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel leadership was competent, and managers did not feel they were above their workers. I did feel there were bit of a communication barrier between the workers and their managers since managers expect certain work out of the engineers, yet they often do not see anything first hand.

Pros

Superior Technology
Diverse Market penetration
Global presence
Lots of cash

Cons

Applied became more focused on saving a dollar. Moved to much overseas. Lost sight in the value of their employees. Focused to much on Solar.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep more of it's core business in the U.S.

Pros

Applied Materials allow the employee a lot of flexablity and freedom on the job.

Cons

Many lay-offs and high stress

Advice to Senior Management

Need to praise their employee's more often.

Pros

Many overseas opportunities and good place to work, especially as Full-Time.

Cons

Limited opportunities in the states.

Pros

Amazing variety of different industries to work on (semi, display, solar, battery)
Some very capable and aggressive people that are driven to success
A strong legacy of fantastic technology products

Cons

Lots of political in fighting
Focus is shifting from a technology company to an operational company, Finance and legal are becoming the dominant force of the company
CEO and CFO seem to push to have as much outsourced to China as possible
CFO, formerly in the oil industry, is making most key product decisions in the company, bad for the company

Advice to Senior Management

Don't just pay lip service to innovation and don't forget how the company got to where it is today: Applied is not an operations company, it is a technology company built on innovations coming from silicon valley. Cheaper labor and enhanced operations will not make Applied a great company.

Pros

Great people in the organization, very adept at their trade.

Cons

Highly charged political envrionment that pays more attention to the relationships you can establish versus results you have achieved.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior executives need to get on the same, mutually beneficial, agenda.

Pros

Outstanding Tenure.. Good working environmental..

Cons

Contract positions for 1yr with low than average pay. Outsourcing and layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management

Great company

Pros

My teammates were an Extra Ordinary group of people.

Cons

Unreasonable expectations. They have outsourced to a provider that is not capable of doing the job. Upper Management is not making informed decisions. The worker bees that have survived the numerous layoff are not appreciated. They are pushed to make an outsource model work with ineffective support systems.

Advice to Senior Management

Call the producers of undercover boss. You need to speak to the worker bees to obtain a clear vision of how your decisions effect your employees.

Pros

Pay scale is good and the telecommute options are usually good. (depends on manager) Very high profile company as the products you serve are very expensive. Well known leader in Semiconductors.

Cons

Hostile environment- Competition for jobs is very high, large layoffs, contractors are turned over annually leaving a ton of work incomplete, training is limited to Full timers that are in fear of losing their jobs., and job knowledge is unique to AMAT.

Advice to Senior Management

Lose your little empires, Consolidate globally, and quit outsourcing!

Pros

Pay is above average, Benefits are good, health insurance is superior and bonus and stock plan is worth it, Work Life Balance is incorporated--lots of work from home opportunities

Cons

Opportunities for advancement are little, hiring from the outside is preferred , Management capability is low--no focus on building good managers, Frequent layoffs--I have been there 11 years and have seen 13 layoffs

Advice to Senior Management

Applied Materials has leadership issues from the top down. People get pushed into management positions who are neither good at it nor comfortable with it. HR has a long way to go to create a productive employee base. Work on creating more competent managers and weed out the bad ones, so employees become more satisfied and productive. Create opportunities for advancement and don't automatically assume external candidates are better.