Linear Technology Reviews

Pros

Results and income are tightly related

Cons

Very flat org and noone leaves so very little advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing.

Pros

Great place to work for designers

Cons

Difficult porducts to work on

Advice to Senior Management

They are doing a great job

Pros

Very intelligent driven coworkers
Free flowing circuit idea sharing
Sabbaticals
Work life balance
Very little red tape & bureaucracy compared to similar companies

Cons

very few opportunities for advancement (which does NOT mean your compensation stays stagnant too)
management swears a lot
need to develop superior products with inferior equipment and technology

Advice to Senior Management

swear less and update technology in lab. there's quite a bit of design inefficiency from not having the right equipment.

Pros

-Profit sharing 2x a year
-Lots of good competent technical people (design, apps, FAEs)
-Not a whole lot of middle management, they run a lean operation
-Chances to do a lot of little things and grow on the job

Cons

-Not a whole lot of middle management, not much career advancement possible
-Not a lot of change, which is both good and bad. They keep doing good things well, but how long can that continue to work in a mature market like analog ICs
-Profit sharing 2x a year, whether you're a slacker or a superstar, everyone gets the same percentage

Advice to Senior Management

Be sure to get out and see customers. Don't get too reliant on FAEs to do all of your product definition. Don't be afraid to take business at slightly lower margin to hold onto existing sockets.

Pros

Good place to learn. Some of the top people in the industry work at Linear. People are treated fairly, and the upper management does things that make sense. In 2008 we had a minor layoff, a 10% pay cut and furlough days, which was much better than the big layoffs (about 25-33%) our competitors had. Excellent profit sharing and very good benefits. Ever 5 years employees get a sabbatical, which is fantastic! Several design centers across USA, and a few internationals ones.

Cons

You will work much harder than most other places. Transferring between product lines is discouraged, but not impossible. Equipment budgets are tight.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work.

Pros

Great place to learn integrated circuit design from one of the most experienced companies in the field. Very little bureaucracy to contend with.

Cons

Prone to industry ups and downs.

Advice to Senior Management

To expand product scope to new markets that may be a bit outside core competencies and look at designing higher level products that can go direct to consumers in addition to b2b products.

Pros

good environment, good people, good salary

Cons

growth is very slow, need to expand

Advice to Senior Management

need more management level

Pros

Full Profit Sharing once you achieve 2 years tenure. Respected product portfolio. Short lead times. Solid stock performance.

Cons

Arrogance of senior management. Pricing is consistently higher than competitors who are equally good at what they do.

Advice to Senior Management

Undeniably profitable with no long-term vision on revenue growth. Amortize mature products and take less margin instead of constantly putting yourselves in a confrontational situation with customers who have more choices today than ever.

Pros

Compensation is among the highest in the industry. You can become very wealthy working for Linear if you have a hide thick enough to handle the abusive treatment.

Cons

Confrontational, threatening atmosphere. Management uses threats to control and "motivate" employees. Rarely any positive feedback. Seniority is sneeringly referred to as "longevity".
If you are a decent Analog Designer then get in, make your money and get out as fast as possible.

Advice to Senior Management

These people are so arrogant that no advice given would be heeded under any circumstances. Like the dog who barked each morning at sunrise, they remain convinced the the sun rises because of their barking. After all, the sun is coming up isn't it? You can't argue with their
success.

Pros

Good compensation
good communication within engineering team
got exposure to a large range of things
engineering atmosphere is good if staying in the right team

Cons

Not much professional training
Not many chances for promotion
Sometimes, the large work load can prevent you from learning new things.

Advice to Senior Management

In fact, I think the management did what they were supposed to do.

Maybe, as employee, people may think the management shall do more things for them. But the management did their work for the company and for big shareholder. So no big complain.