FormFactor Employee Reviews about "formfactor"

Pros

My review applies to the Beaverton site only (I have less visibility of the other sites), and it applies to engineering only: Formfactor is the only high tech company (mid or large size only) that I aware that doesn't age-discriminate. I have seen may work places, which includes many places in the CA bay area. I know, all companies claim they don't age-discriminate since it's the law. But of course the truth is different. You may not care much about this if you are reading this review after graduation looking for a job, but you will learn to appreciate it when you are in your late 30s/early 40s or older. Formfactor is one of very few mid+ size high tech places that even hires senior people as individual contributors. This is rare in the tech sector, but it may also be a result of the fact that probecard technology (in general) is not as 'cutting-edge' as other high tech technologies (like lithography node shrinking, artificial intelligence, etc). Therefore, skill sets don't become as 'obsolete' as in other high tech companies.

Cons

Management tends to 'pigeon-hole' employees, meaning that employees are sometimes signed up for responsibilities that are below their capabilities, which is detrimental for career development. Another con is management's hesitation to add headcount when the company is doing well (to avoid or reduce layoffs in downturns). While that can also be seen as a 'pro', the downside is that some interesting development projects may get cut during cycles when the company is doing well (in order to move heads to critical under-resourced areas). Cutting back on development is not something that has hurt the company (I believe) due to the long life cycle of a probecard technology (in contrast to more 'cutting edge' technologies in other industries - see above), so this strategy may work but it is your decision if it is good for your career.

Pros

- The company leaders are doing their best to grow the company and I think they have done a good job - I never saw or experienced any unfair treatment because of race or gender - The benefits are adequate - Upper management was always friendly with me - Cutting edge technology with opportunities to learn - Work life balance was pretty good in my experience

Cons

FormFactor is a fair company overall but my experience was tarnished by the managers I reported to. Experiences maybe different depending on placement. Personal experience cons: - Management shares very little information - Was spoken to inappropriately by management on more that one occasion - Received very little feedback for self improvement. Quarterly check-ins were a formality - Made inquiries/requests for career advancement and was not taken seriously with no explanation why Company cons: - Short lead time and low run orders result in department infighting and finger pointing - Segmented information sharing work culture - Departments may work against each other with little intervention from upper management - Short lead times and upper management pressure lead to stress and higher likely hood for mistakes

Pros

Salary is competitive with the industry. Generous PTO. 10 days company holidays. Great legacy Cascade Microtech people. Flexible hours depending on which department you work in.

Cons

FormFactor upper management' poor decision making without the knowledge and experience. It is about 'do it now' rather then 'do it right'. Unfair employee management style.

Pros

Good salary and nice people. Profitable now and paying bonuses.

Cons

Some bad hiring decisions take a long time to be corrected. Too much "us" "them" mentality between Cascade Microtech in Beaverton versus FormFactor in Livermore and nothing being done at management level (especially Finance or HR) to build a "team" between the two. Why? Lack of HR leadership at top. Lack of awareness of what's happening in Finance.

Pros

I joined this company very recently, so this review is from the perspective of a new employee that comes from a much larger corporation. When I joined Cascade Microtech, they had just announced they were going to be acquired by Formfactor. I was a little bit nervous about that, since I had just joined the team. My supervisor and his boss made sure that in the coming weeks they had Q/A sessions and alleviated most of the concern/anxiety the current workforce had. Coming from a much larger corporation, which housed 100k employees, I was interested to see how things were done in a much smaller company. Most of the reviews, on glassdoor or indeed, were either very good or very bad. Management and Training: I was pleasantly surprised by the transparency between the technicians and management. They acknowledged, at least to me and the other new employee on day one, that they did not have a real training program but were working on it and were going to roll it out in a few weeks. They kept to their promise and gave out detailed expectations of each job function and what would be required to attain the last level. I noticed that a lot of the more senior employees did not like this, nor some of the new policies that had been rolled out under the new management. I think that had to do with the fact most of them had not worked anyplace else. I feel that the new management, of the factories at least, are very fair and transparent and that the policies are very generous and lenient compared to most companies in the area. They delivered to me a 90 day new employee plan that had mapped out what I needed to be proficient in by the end of the time frame in order to keep my position. All of the expectations were fair. The actual training had some bumps in the road, as they were trying out a new training plan. The senior employees were responsible for the training, and executed as well as could be expected for people that had no previous training baseline or expectations. The one thing that I did feel was the trainers were holding back some of their "tribal" knowledge/BKMs. That could have been due to the fact they are updating their work instructions and most of the processes were not written down previously. Overall, they are going in the right direction and things were good. The Supervisors and factory manager are all new and from much larger organizations. They are doing what is right to make the transition from a small company to a mid-sized corporation. They are very forthcoming about everything and take input from the employees and act on them. There are quarterly reviews with your direct manager, and weekly meetings to go over your progress. The only issues with management that I notice are between tenured employees and the new management. The employees that have been here since this was a small company are having a hard time adjusting to the changes and letting go of the "old cascade". They seem to be the most resistant to the changes that have been implemented. Upper Management: The team that has just left was very jovial and easy to talk to. I am not sure if the new executive team from Formfactor has a similar personality, but I hope they do. One of the nice things is that the current VP of operations will be staying and he great! He always comes down to the factory floor and has conversations with each employee and remembers everyone's name! Work and Life balance: Work is stressful. We have more and more products we have to get out of the door and it seems we always are working ridiculous amounts of overtime to complete it. While I feel the workload used to be manageable, I did not work here when it was not busy, we always have an insane amount of orders to work on. When we are not working on orders, we are working on process improvement. There is always something to do. Overall: This is a great company to join during its growth. Management is great and are doing the right things. The Training program, work instructions, and growing pains of going from a small to mid-sized company are things that are being worked on and will need to continue to improve. It is a tough work environment and they expect a lot out of their employees. The benefits are average, but hopefully with the acquisition from a CA based company will improve. If you want to join a company where you can make an immediate impact where they expect a lot out of their employees, I would recommend it. If you want to just come in and collect a pay check, it might not be a good fit.

Cons

There is a constant struggle between the "cascade of old" and the new cascade/formfactor. The employees who have worked only at this company need to understand that things can not be as they were. There is some resentment from these employees towards the new management as I stated above, but long term I do not see it being an issue. The benefits, specifically health, would be a grade C. I think they are doing the best they can, but hopefully it improves. Upper management has shown tendencies to favor/protect tenured employees.

Pros

I got to do a lot of different things. Formfactor supports mobility within the company. I got to work with a lot of very talented people. Livermore is a reverse commute for most people. Formfactor has a nice facility. Probecard design is challenging so it stays interesting.

Cons

Formfactor fell into a mode of blame and mismanagement, but that era is behind them. Word on the street is the work environment has improved drastically.