Pros

The freedom to take care of issues I deemed that needed to be improved upon. The ability to Telecommute once every one or two weeks. The ease of being able to talk to all levels of management.

Cons

The cyclical nature of the industry leads to a very stressful life at AMAT. Way too many layoffs while holding onto a huge amount of cash on hand which was meant to "get the company through rough times". The cash reserves seemed to never get touched. Even during periods of layoffs (3-6 layoffs every two years), cash was added to the reserves. Management had their "favorite sons" which could do no wrong and were given all the "fun" assignments. Employees were frequently "pigeon holed" in positions they were good at even if they were not happy there. Work that nobody wanted to do was usually pushed completely onto one person.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not be so quick to lay people off and move jobs over-seas. AMAT has lost a tremedous amount of talent due to the continuous layoff cycle. As a result of the number of layoffs and the offshoring of jobs, employee loyalty to the company is severely diminished and moral is very low. Go back to what made AMAT great in the early '90s: treat your employees fairly (do not over-hire), reduce the number of management layers (employees hate seeing directors get promoted without anybody reporting to them, especially when they're told all salaries are frozen), concentrate on improving your product.