nLIGHT Reviews

Pros

Incredibly exciting technology and challenging projects. Will enable you to expand in your field of expertise. Mgmt encourages lead from anywhere and they mean it.

Cons

Not of engineers looking for a relaxed steady state environment. If you are not interested to continuously grow and push yourself, then this is not your place.

Pros

If you can stand to be under-paid and taken advantage of… and you know how to play the field with management, there’s plenty of opportunity for rapid advancement which will look good on a resume.

Cons

Working at nLight is has been more mentally draining than anywhere I’ve worked before. The brain drain you will experience at nLight happens because of a culture of inconsistency and lack of attention to detail. You will notice the inconsistencies at nLight on your first day when you are given 2 different user names to login to the various systems they use. Why 2 instead of 1… good question? On top of that, some of them will require a password that you routinely update while some will use your original non-updated password... Depending on your work scope, you will use about 6 different systems, all with a different combination of user names and passwords. There’s no rhyme or reason to help you keep track and the handout they give you for the first few systems is not accurate. Go figure. Every process at nLight is like this, inconsistent, with little forethought put into it’s creation and no logical means of keeping track of how to use it. It becomes obvious after not much time that the inconsistencies are the result of reactive management making band aid fixes for totally broken systems and processes. Management is afraid of change. Production is forced to use outdated equipment literally from the 1970’s that breaks down all the time. They bought an old ERP system a long time ago with limited functionality that is not user friendly and instead of upgrading to a decent one with a usable shop floor control module for production, they decided to develop their own software to interact with it. This software breaks down all the time and because they’ve invested so much money and resources into it, they’ve made it much harder on themselves to upgrade to a new ERP. The people who setup part numbers regularly miss important fields causing routine processes to break down often. This means you can forget comprehensive cycle counting without heavy use of spreadsheets. If you’re a buyer/planner, you better not make the mistake of trusting MRP to accurately forecast material needs. On top of all of that, it’s not unfair to say that management is totally incompetent. I once witnessed someone high up in management microwave a store-bought salad… The leadership of people like this leads to massive down times followed by weeks and weeks of required OT on weekends. They have bizarre practices for everything that are non-standard, bogged down and inefficient. Also, these incompetent managers/supervisors will be eager to micromanage you. You’ll be forced into bad practice and then blamed when it yields poor results. If you’re a good worker who's worked anywhere else, you’ll have an idea of what a better/more standard practice ought to be. Unfortunately you'll find yourself pulling your hair out when you try to talk to management about new ideas/methods. It will be like talking to wall. this is all incredibly de-motivating. I watched the performance and professionalism of several great employees who would excel anywhere else, take a nose dive as a result of such a de-motivating culture. On top of that, some folks in management are not above harassing and bullying employees across departments. They are very subtle about it and they have been there a very long time so it will be your word against there’s… good luck getting anyone high up to understand how they make your life hell. There are only two types of people who stick around at nLight. Total slackers ie: management favorites… and people who have never worked anywhere else ie: Don't know any better. There was an evacuation recently where supervisors told people to grab their belongings before leaving the building so you know the safety culture is focused on the right things... nLight only trudges forward via human glue that is unacknowledged and under immense stress and tension. That human glue is leaving at an exponential pace.

Pros

Small to medium-sized company with outdated technology, some talented and nice people who have good relationships. But mostly there's a culture of "fear".

Cons

A hostile and chaotic environment in manufacturing. Management uses the term "Lead from anywhere", but has no sense of direction, guidance or leadership themselves. Technicians and Engineers are constantly judged and asked to lead and make decisions, while management is really poor in guiding teams and providing the necessary tools. Programs are poorly planned and constant changes lead to unnecessary disruptions and failures. There is a huge disconnect between cross-functional teams and usually, play the blame game which leads to hostility and poor culture. Fear-based culture, micro-managers, bad history of lay-offs, below average salary/benefits, favoritism, politics and the list goes on ...

Pros

Smart culture Good benefits Decent pay to start Room to grow Flexible schedules Understanding supervisors No pressure to learn quickly

Cons

The initial learning curve is steep but after that it’s very easy Some other wafer tech companies start their employees wage higher Long hours Inside all day It’s great though