Upper management's best intentions for employees don't trickle down. - Engineer Applied Materials Employee Review

1.0
17 May 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

money, smart people, money. benefits you would normally expect are all there (insurance, vacation, bonus, stocks, tuition reimbursement, etc). flexible work schedules (see why below in the Cons).

Cons

We have an annual company-internal technology conference, and this year it is being held in Las Vegas. Despite a lot of employees being invited to attend, ultimately a lot of people can't because their bosses won't let them due to other work. We also have some celebration events maybe twice a year, usually held in the company parking lot. Despite the fact that it's held during the work week maybe from 11am to 4pm, people come for lunch and leave to go back to work immediately afterwards and end up having to stay extra long due to the hour they spend their during lunch. We have all-hands meetings once a quarter, yet at the end of the meetings at 5pm, even though the executives tell everyone to go home and have a good weekend, everybody really just has to return back to work and work extra hours because of the time spent at the meetings. Be prepared to often spend 80+ hours working in a week, and having to work >12 hours each day of Saturday and Sunday.

Explore other reviews about Applied Materials

5.0
13 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Wonderful staff - great company all around

Cons

Cannot think of any cons.

2.0
8 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary, I was compensated very well, the I hated working there so much that I resigned without anything even lined up. It was a good move for my mental health.

Cons

The leadership in general are not very intelligent, disorganized, and uncommunicative. They were decades behind in certain areas that lead to massive inefficiencies and overwork. (Out of respect I will not be specific). I suggested an improvement that would have taken task time down from 8 hours to virtually real time, but the executive Team, in their arrogance, did not allow me to implement the system. Sometime later, the cumbersome, unreliable system was not working and a deadline approaching. I worked 20 hours per day for 7 days and built an entire real time reporting system - then resigned. No one at AMAT was ever helpful. It always seemed an inconvenience to give a colleague outside ones group the time of day. I gained absolutely ZERO new skills or professional development at AMAT all my time there. Many of the employees at the time, including senior management, felt free to publicly express invectives against the current POTUS in their suffering TDS. Another reason I could not work in the environment. Rules for thee and not for me.

2
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