Lam Research Reviews

Pros

Lam has a fantastic atmosphere where everybody seems happy to help everybody else in order to succeed even if they're delaying their work some. The company pays well, and for me there was tons of overtime (and double-time for that matter). I constantly had lots of work, but it wasn't dull or tedious. There's much to learn here and become engaged in.

Cons

If you don't like working a lot or long hours don't look here. Lam will take up a good amount of time, which may not be good for you if you have a very active outside life. Also, you pretty much need a PhD to move up the ladder here so if you don't want to get one or don't have the background to get the correct one (chem, nuclear, materials science...) there isn't much upward mobility for you.

Pros

All employees were willing to help each other as they all have same objective: what is best for the company.

Cons

The semiconductor industry is very cyclical, thus there might be time when the company has to lay off employees during the downside of the cycle.

Pros

good benifits great leadership and sabbatical

Cons

dependent on manager it can be hardworking

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Lam is a very well run company. They believe in a promote from within philosophy, which provides advancement opportunities. The company is plowing a huge amount of money into R&D which bodes well for continued market growth in both etch and clean. As with any company, your direct manager can have a large impact on your day-to-day job/work life, but in general, work/life balance is respected and promoted.

Cons

The biggest negative about working at Lam is the nature of the business it is in. The semi conductor business is very cyclical, and that means at times Lam (and all other semi companies) have layoffs. This is not a knock on Lam, but an industry as a whole.

Pros

good work environment for technical people
strong senior management
good investment into R&D
honest and strong relationships with the customer
ethical/professional values are taken seriously
promotions are typically from within the company

Cons

some middle managers are confused
too much pressure from the top-tier customers
not enough opportunities to publish technical research, even though the company offers financial benefits for publishing research papers

Advice to Senior Management

keep up the good work and the company's business/professional culture, offer more opportunities for technical people to publish to establish an R&D culture for the company (similar to the values initiative taken years ago)

Pros

Lam provides a solid benefits package as well as stock annually for competent engineers. They will also allow you to take course, paid, to get a higher degree. That will make you more marketable as well as getting you more pay.

Cons

The semiconductor industry is very fast pace. If you can not work 60 hours a week this will not be the job for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue doing what it is you are doing. New hires are excited to work here for the chance to move up as well as the positive atmosphere in the work place.

Pros

Decision are based on technical reason, then on business reason. In the semiconductor industry, it makes a huge difference for customer trust and market share!

Cons

A lot of travel, but that's true about every semiconductor cie.

Pros

Relatively open communication from management down
Good training and development for employees
Encourage team work

Cons

Long hours
Tough deadline
All work and no play

Pros

Have some of the best benefits in the industry

Cons

Large corporation politics affect productivity.

Pros

Nice pay and bonus, benefit is good.
Excellent technology,very data oriented, efficient and well run, you can find and read a lot of internal technical reports.
Financial data is Leading in this industry.

Cons

Life work balance is bad. OT is a culture in this company.
Many employees are quite anti social. There should be more fun activities inside of the company.
The semiconductor equipment industry is not stable. Lam likes to hire a lot during the upturn and lay off a lot in the downturn.

Advice to Senior Management

Avoid massive layoff. Give employees more family time.