Atheros Reviews

Pros

Engineering run dynamic. good feedback between employees - good location

Cons

nationality cohesion can be problematic. Too many meetings. sometimes information from management does not sip through to employees.

Pros

Great colleagues, lot of information exchange between employess

Cons

Rude Managers, ridiculous deadlines, no respect for young generations

Advice to Senior Management

Give respect to young engineers

Pros

Respect to employees. Fairness to employees

Cons

Compensation is too low.
vacation is low.

Pros

Atheros provided good opportunities to get technically involved in various projects.
The group that I worked in had a good overall rapport.

Cons

At Atheros, there were only few opportunities for professional growth or advancement within the company. Management was unable to resolve issues that arose due to personal conflicts between managers, and individuals suffered from this.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more critical in reviewing midlevel managers effectiveness. Be more proactive in resolving potential conflicts to prevent potential adverse effects to individual engineering careers.

Pros

Can be owner of individual modules
Work life balance is self determined

Cons

Lots of politics on
review process is not transparent
no value for employee feedback

Advice to Senior Management

open eyes and value talents

Pros

some good people that know what they're doing...

Cons

too many people that are busy building empires....

Advice to Senior Management

Quit the politics. you're part of one company. the latest reorg has splintered the company...

Pros

Relaxing work environment, industry-leading company,

Cons

Should offer more fruit and snack

Advice to Senior Management

N/A

Pros

Engineering, technology oriented company
Great leadership and vision from CEO

Cons

Atheros policy to moving R&D overseas

Advice to Senior Management

Finding a balance between cost reduction and retaining technology

Pros

Cash compensation is very good relative to other companies.
Business is growing rapidly since the company is in a relatively good market.
As of this writing, company was acquired by a much larger, very profitable company which would likely ensure job security.
Company really does an excellent job making it a very family-friendly place to work - the work life balance is second-to-none.

Cons

Lots of middle management and politics - the company promotes a lot of its early employees, which in principle is a great idea. There are often more directors and senior directors on a team than actually rank and file employees! However, the rapid growth of the business shortcuts a lot of the professional development that these managers needed to successfully manage the products and growth to be scalable in years to come. As such, a lot of projects are done without proper planning and a lot of inefficiencies are present. New management teams have been brought in from the outside only to be rendered powerless by existing management.

Advice to Senior Management

To manage the next phase of growth in the face of stiffer competition, the company needs to find leaders in engineering and marketing that have demonstrated past success doing so. A lot of what worked in a startup does not carry over when the stakes are higher. A lot of the employees at the company look up to the management team to be mentors, but there is really not a lot of great mentors in the company simply because a lot of them are young and not as experienced - many of them actually have not worked anywhere else outside of Atheros.

Pros

work environment Management team technology is top notch

Cons

Not much. Late hours qualcomm purchase