Pros
You are surrounded by people from different walks of life and are always faced with new and unique challenges everyday. Everyone around you has something to teach you as long as you know your way around. You will be working in client sites around the world and you can stay in the industry for the rest of your life if you can go slightly above what is expected of you on a daily basis. You will also run into idi*ts (90% of these are not Applied Materials employees - these are people you have to work with at client sites) and you will learn how to deal with them. Depending on which stage you are in the client's business demands and the industry trends, you will have varied amounts of work. Some days are plain boring and nothing to do while sometimes you might have to work 16hrs straight. If you like being pushed to your limits all around, this is a great place to work the same job the rest of your life. But if you want to advance and grow, you have to show you can go above and beyond - both to the customer and to your internal team.
Cons
Depending on which client you work at, your demands are varied. Depending on which site you work at, there is varied collaboration. Mostly, you are by yourself. The company does train you but it is not enough to jump in and troubleshoot. This is a male dominant, cut throat, ruthless, aggressive and profit-minded vertical within the company. You are the front line worker of this company at this role. If you do not know how to turn a wrench or are not a technical person, you will be labeled by the customer as an idi*t - doesn't matter if you have three PhDs or climbed mount Everest. Unless you know how to talk and present yourself in this environment - if you have the right attitude and great soft skills, you can place yourself at the best spot on your team. But be ready for harsh criticism and tough challenges. It also depends on your manager. Your manager was most likely at your job before they got forced to move up - they're forced because salaried managers make a lot less than a hourly workers like you. This means they mostly do not care about you or your shenanigans - they just expect you to go to work and do your job or else you're easily replaceable. This job is like going to somebody's house where they think they can do your job better than you - and then constantly being watched by them on how you perform. You make one mistake and it is hard to come back because the customer does not want you to mess up again and your internal team will make fun of you for that until you make your next mistake - once again, this is the characteristic of a male dominant workplace. You have to learn to stay calm and move on and take all forms of constant criticism. Don't even think about bringing large scale creative new ideas to the table. You will either be shut down or your manager will steal it to make himself look better even though he did not contribute. Depending on your manager, he might try to throw you under the bus at times but if he is nice he will return the favor - again, it helps if you know how to talk and network in this environment. Very rarely will your manager address your ideas in a positive manner - but don't worry it will never be implemented unless it's very trivial like buying a new kind of wrench.