Samsung Semiconductor Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

Pay for performance philosophy at Samsung means that if you are willing to invest the time, and the energy, and more time, you can have a very successful career. Very open work culture with team orientation, departments work well together for the benefit of the overall company.

Cons

Samsung is a Korean company and has a dual management structure - almost every department has an American manager and a Korean dispatch manager, which can sometimes leave the employees in the lurch between bosses with different priorities and instructions.

Advice to Senior Management

The memory market changes rapidly, which drives the pace of change internal to Samsung Austin. Developing the right IT systems and then providing strong training, support, and regular updates would improve the ability to adapt to the market changes while keeping the solid base of operations.

Pros

Samsung pays above the average and has a great benefits package, including quarterly bonuses of up to 3 weeks of pay. The people at Samsung are great to work with and for the most part very competent in their jobs. They are respectful of time off and family events are put on year round.

Cons

The only downside is understaffed an overworked. Many times overtime is need to complete mandatory projects. It's easy to work 60 hr weeks.

Advice to Senior Management

Be a little more fair about how yearly increases and reviews are given. If you're really good at something, you get pigeon holed and find it difficult to go to another inside job.

Pros

The pay is above average.

Cons

Two culture environment does not mesh well at times, causing disharmony. Corporate response tends towards periodic efforts towards cultural re-education of U.S. workforce.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to develop a blended culture environment philosophy which is an equal balance of U.S. and Korean influence. , and be consistent in it's application. Stop oscillating focus between cultural extremes.

Pros

Peers/co-workers are amazing. Work hard play hard mentality. Some amazing management members that truly mentor.

Cons

Most members of management. Employee satisfaction not addressed, even with consistently low survey scores. Expect really long hours and to be paged throughout the weekend/all hours of the night. Korean expectations are completely foreign to any sane American.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees if you want to keep them.

Pros

Location is fantastic. It's the only profitable semiconductor left in Austin (if not globally; Samsung is having record performance). They generally don't have layoffs (although people do mysteriously get low rankings during performance reviews and are either voluntarily or forcibly "exited"). If you like Korean food, the cafeteria is nice. Employee discounts on electronics (but usually not better than a Best Buy sale).

Cons

Samsung Austin Semiconductor is run like a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of Samsung Electronics in Korea. Nearly all of upper management is Korean. All design happens in Korea. There is a general disrespect for the Americans (who make up the majority of the workforce). The culture is quintessential Asian with a focus on productivity at the cost of work-life balance. It's not just the long hours (which ebb and flow), it's the disregard for any life outside of work (e.g., denial of vacation time, last minute "requests" that cause you to immediately change any plans you might have for that day/week, etc.) The near-Draconian management style creates a very stressful work environment. Turnover is extremely high. Upper management is void of women or blacks and there are very few minorities in the middle ranks. In recent years, recruiting has become harder; site wide "great workplace" survey has indicated widespread discontent, and management is attempting to ameliorate. Unfortunately, they do want to change or dedicate any resources to personnel retention or quality recruiting. Promotions seem to be based on longevity rather than performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is in a paradoxical situation. Employees really want to work for Samsung. Employees really hate working for Samsung. From one side of the mouth we hear, "we want this to be a great work place, what can we do?" from the other we hear an incessant stream of imaginary deadlines, no investment in employee development, no career path for anyone other than Koreans and white male sycophants, or refusal to consider with flexible work schedules. At times of high productivity and profit, there is an unhealthy focus on intense cost reduction; bonus target goals are being readjusted to make them more unattainable. The people who have stayed have done so either from desperation or a quixotic hope that things will improve. The combination of high turnover and insanely poor recruiting (the offer declination rate is very high and may be related to an amazingly incompetent human resources department) have put ridiculous requirements on the "survivors". But those of us that have stayed really care about Samsung and want to be here.

Pros

Very fast learning curve where you are challenged. If you can handle it without being overwhelmed then you will be fine. Fast paced environment and getting to work with many different types of people. Many people of all ages so you will never feel like you don't fit in.

Cons

Depending on your manager things can be either really great or quite unpleasant. Some managers micro-manage and you might get the feeling they are breathing down your back as you work. Also, sometimes decisions are made that affect you without you knowing until the last minute even though that information was available long before. The culture also encourages that work is life, and thus there is poor work-life balance. Working 8-5 is a luxury.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of your group members and look after them. This way they will be more encouraged to work hard, knowing that both of you are on the same team and working towards a common goal. Take a genuine interest in getting to know your group better and caring in their well being.

Pros

Pay - that's it. Perhaps rapid career advancement is another benefit since senior people resign so often.

Cons

Korean management oversees everything and makes all the decisions. American employees (even senior engineers) are just "gophers" to the point of being handed to-do lists for the day. Individual thought and technical debates are not valued at all. Managers can present completely false data and not be questioned due to "saving face" Korean culture. Lack of diversity, especially females. Females in leadership or management positions are less than 2%. Expectation to work long hours and weekend, just for "face time" even if no value-added work is required. Limited planning, activities are often in crisis mode. Communication from Koreans is horrible to the point of experts/trainers arriving unannounced from Korea and "drop everything, go learn" is the only directive. Management ethics are a joke - to the extent of falsifying audit documents and I'm not surprised the CEO was ousted for corruption and bribery. Even the Korean employees "deeply regret their jobs."

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the charade...fire the American employees and import the Korean labor.

Pros

there are a lot of young people so there is an opportunity to meet people the same age and you can make friends quickly.
The benefits are excellent

Cons

Working in a multicultural environment (Korean & American) can be very challenging. It's key that you understand that Headquarters in Korea is really in charge the direction of the business.
Long working hours are expected at Samsung. They offer very generous amounts of paid time off, but many managers make it difficult for you to take time off work.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn how to effectively manage change. The environment changes too rapidly and there is no effort by senior management to manage the change smoothly.

Pros

They start you off with good benefits to start including access to their employee sales site that offers many of Samsung's top products for discounted prices. They also offer plenty in the way of child care and consideration I'm told. I don't have kids of my own. They also have on site cafeterias that serve decent food at a low price, and they add 20 dollars to your cafeteria account monthly The Samsung organization has a leading global electronics division if that is something you can rally behind to find satisfaction. They also give out quarterly bonuses based on chip yield and units shipped up to 4 weeks pay. The average while I was there was around 1 and a half weeks pay though.

Cons

Samsung is not a company that was forged in America. This has many drawbacks. They did not attain power and wealth amidst the eyes of American investors and consumers. They built most of their wealth in South Korea. I feel that companies built in America are scrutinized more by the American consumer and are therefore more socially required to do certain things such as treating workers fairly, avoiding pollution, donating to charity, etc. I assume the branches operating in America conduct business within provided US regulations, however for two straight years almost the whole of the staff felt that the yearly raises given out were laughable at best, neither year averaging over 2 percent increases. I was told that during the building of the previous plant 9 years prior, many bonuses were given out for meeting or exceeding deadlines. I speculate the change is due to the fact that Samsung Global just had a controlled change of power from the guy who used to run it to his son. This younger man may not realize the importance of such things, and the ramifications of snubbing your workforce. Also the push for training and general job related knowledge is not there so you'll end up being one of two kinds of people working there: 1. someone that barely knows what they're doing or 2. someone that knows what they're doing but works with a bunch of people that have not a clue.

Advice to Senior Management

If someone proposes a complete training program when there is none currently in place, don't neglect the idea.
If your entire employee base averaged over 6 hours of overtime weekly for the last year to meet construction deadlines of a new plant, dont reward them with two years of raises that don't even cover the cost of inflation.