Samsung Semiconductor Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

-Comprehensive benefits package.
-Competitive pay.
-Community-oriented company.
-Attempts to prevent layoffs to the best of their ability.
-Numerous company hosted family events.

Cons

-Korean-American relationship can be tenuous at times.
-High attrition rate of young Engineers.
-Annual review system needs to be revamped. Recent revamp is insulting.
-Management is not always forthright with information. As a result, HR ends up the "bad guy" in many minds.
-Warm fab.

Advice to Senior Management

Respect your employees.

Be up front and honest with all news as it pertains to your employees. If there must be layoffs, say so. Give employees time to prepare for what may come.

If the annual review system is up for a revamp, let your employees know well in advance. Not as they're performing self-evaluations.

Don't allow young salaried employees to be scheduled to work 60 hours a week and be expected to cover necessary overages as well. That kind of schedule would burn anyone out. It's not a wonder entry-level Engineer attrition is so high.

Pros

Generally good pay, had good benefits until they got cut at the end of 2008 due to the economic downturn. People take on responsibility very quickly and you will rapidly become an expert in whatever area you work. If you have the drive and determination for it, there are opportunities to rise quickly through the organization. Co-workers are mostly hardworking & dedicated individuals. Most groups within the company are fairly tight-knit and often people eat lunch together and / or hang out after work together or on weekends. The CORP program brings in engineering graduates straight from college and keeps the company young. They also promote from within wherever possible.

Cons

Long work hours for any exempt (salaried) employee. Typical work week is 50-60hrs/wk, more if you have a ton of responsibilities or if whatever process, layer, system, equipment or area you work on goes haywire. Management used to be fairly transparent and open (sharing presentations from all-manager and executive meetings, intranet website to ask anonymous questions and receive feed back, etc) but since mid-late 2008 that has all but disappeared. Lately people have been getting laid off here and there across the company, but there has been no official word on what the overall plan is for the organization, when the layoffs might be "complete" or what the vision is for 2009.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't keep people in the dark - be honest and up front. People will hear things through the grape vine and rumors spread like wildfire, you might as well cut them off and be direct about what's going on.

Pros

The company offers competitive medical, dental, and vision insurance. Just recently however, they cut back on a lot of nice perks like free holiday meals, paid time off usage, shift premiums, tuition reimbursement, cash for quarterly awards, etc. I've gone for a while feeling like there was fairly good job security (which is nice considering semiconductor is such a cyclical industry) until recent times. Next level managment in my area seems alright with weekly meetings, but as we go up the chain, executive leadership seems uninformed, unapproachable, and indecisive. Overall, an okay place to work for, but as with everything else, there can be improvement in anything.

Cons

There seems to be too many name. Communication from all levels of management has been sparse and even non-existent, especially during difficult times such as these. Current cost cutting measures are taking place which affects headcount. It's hard for employees to swallow because reductions are being couched as "performance management" and not as layoffs. This type of "performance management" doesn't seem fair because throughout the year ,only 10% of employees were to be deemed as improvement needed and then towards the end of last year when it became more critical to reduce costs, they all of a sudden say that that percentage must be doubled. Then, they take that 20% and use that pool of people to make reductions.

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to people, make your presence and stance known. Don't let people have to decipher their environment and their futures.

Pros

Fast paced, Lots of responsibility quickly, O.K benefits (recently cut - they were pretty good), Cutting Edge Tech,
Work days are rarely repeats of each other. You will become experienced in a very broad range of topics.

Great coworkers. Everybody there is proud to work hard for Samsung. Most are work hard / play hard kinds of people. If you do not fit this mold, enter at your own risk.

Cons

If you are an Engineer you will work long hours. Really long hours... Even if it happens to be calm that week. 55 hrs would be normal +/- depending on the situation. If there are big problems, bring a pillow. HR's basic statement is no more than 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, 60 hrs per week : Unless the situation calls for it. (which could mean anything)

Mandatory % coverage during "company holidays" regardless of shift. PTO is difficult to schedule (varies from dept. to dept.). Everything is an extremely important deadline which will require you to come early and stay late regardless of actual content. You will be on call nights / weekends / holidays and expected to respond to any situation and be ready to report on it the next morning. Work Life Balance and GWP is preached but clearly not a priority.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce the less-than-important directives so people can focus on whats important and then go home to see their families.

Pros

There is a good chance you will be given a broad amount of responsibilities early on in your career. Benefits are better than average. Experienced engineers tend to make better than average salaries.

Cons

All levels of management rely on fear and negative reinforcement to motivate employees. Work/life balance is basically impossible to establish without taking a hit on your review. Management does not seem to have a proper background or training to be in the positions that they are in. Cost reduction measures include layoffs which are cleverly disguised as performance based ultimatums, in order to save face with the media.

Advice to Senior Management

Think of employees as people instead of pieces of mobile process equipment.

Pros

Samsung is a great introduction to Corporate America, and in particular, the manufacturing industry, with a Korean twist. You will not be spared the pressure to perform, the ups and downs of an industry some consider to be dying (Semiconductors), and the extreme bureaucracy of a large company. You also will meet a variety of ambitious people looking to suck up enough and endure enough nonsense to get promoted every two years. Fortunately if you work extremely hard or speak up loudly and often enough (even if you don't know what you're talking about), then you can move up. The best things about this company are that most people there are very smart and committed to their jobs; slackers don't last too long, and especially not under today's scrutinizing economy.

As a person who can appreciate the best in all cultures, I found it very beneficial to go visit Korea and learn how people around the world live just Americans. Parents have the same best hopes for their kids, and they will sacrifice a lot to give to their kids. The work life/balance in Korea definitely leans more towards work, and Samsung Semiconductor accurately reflects that.

Just know what you're getting into.

Cons

Long hours. Conditions are not extreme, not investment banking or anything like that, but a steady 50-60 hours per week is very standard. If you're in a production group, expect to get be responsible for equipment or a process at ALL hours of the night, and to get paged about it. The rules and procedures set up to keep people from making mistakes can be very stifling and frustrating. Expect directives from upper management that will tax with you often meaningless tasks. They are only meant to exemplify the person who gave the directive. Also, I've heard that if you have achieved a high level of technician or engineer, don't expect to go anywhere but the semiconductor industry and earn a comparable amount of money.

Advice to Senior Management

Seek anonymous feedback from your employees. Don't be so extreme with cost cutting measures.

Pros

Benefits. That will be the best reason. They cover a wide range of benefits but now with the economy issues we are getting cut on benefits to be able to survive 2009. Health, vision and dental untouched. 401k reduced. No overtime.

Cons

Promotions are based on "due promotions" not by how hard you work. You have to impress Korean management to move up before your due date. 3 years usually.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote according to who is the best and promote employees who really care about their job. You can tell who is who if you really pay attention.

Pros

pay is very good compared to industry standard. Work schedule is also very nice, working 3 or 4 days a week

Cons

Sr. level management. does not appreciate it's most valuable asset...it's employees. Hire more experienced managers instead of good old boys. Corporate culture is the worst I have ever seen.

Advice to Senior Management

75% need to be replaced. Your equipment is not your most valuable asset. Don't be disrespectful. Just because you are at a higher level does not give you the right. Treat people how you want to be treated....and for god's sake stop promoting your buddies and promote the most qualified people even if they have a different view then yours. There are alot of was to manage and get things done.

Pros

Lots of responsibility. Good place for entry level engineers - they get a lot of training that can be useful throughout a career in the semiconductor biz.

Cons

Korean mgmt not in touch with local work force. HR is not empowered to make real changes - everything is tightly controlled by Korean dispatchers.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote/hire some locals into top management. Listen to HR.

Pros

Like most companies of it's type, SAS uses the compressed workweek model for scheduling, and I can' tsee anything wrong with 2 four-day weekends in a month.

Most of the people I work with are at least tolerable, and I've met some really great people at work as well.

Cons

Those four-day weekends usually aren't really all yours. Overtime is basically required to complete the most basic of assignments, and now with the economic crunch, you have to do more with less time.

Communication from management to the floor of what the goals of the team should be is very muddled and incoherent. Job expectations are vague on a good day and completely random on others. Everything that happens is the most important thing I've ever been assigned, so projects often get started and then put on the side when something else comes up.

Recent shift in the structure of the pay scale significantly reduces opportunities for advancement.

Recognition from management is scarce. When it does happen, they take a very elementary approach and give the majority of people some sort of recognition, so those who truly stand out get lost in the sea of praise.

Advice to Senior Management

Pull your tail from between your legs and realize that although we pay what amounts to a franchise fee to Korea, we are not a Korean company. A vast majority of the low and mid-level employees are American, and we don't like being treated like we are second rate because Hang-gul isn't our native tongue.