AMAT is far behind rest of solar industry - Mechanical Engineer III Applied Materials Employee Review

1.0
Nov 14, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I hardly have any pros to working at AMAT. All the good executives left to better positions. AMAT is only run by politics. People climb up the corporate ladder only if they are on the right side of their bosses.

Cons

- Employee morale is very low here. - There is constant downsizing and moving jobs to China and Singapore. (Search AMAT jobs and most jobs are in China, Taiwan and Singapore) - Downsizing and shutdowns started in 2007 even before a hint of recession and it is still continuing for the next 18 months or so until end of 2010. - Employees end up taking unpaid shutdowns and at the end of year, they are laid off, so the company doesn't have to pay for accrued vacation. - Solar technology in terms of cost per watt lags way behind other leaders in the industry - Politics, Politics and Politics. Like one of the reviewers said, some people end up putting a lot of hours and some people almost absolutely none. You can only climb up the corporate ladder only if you have a godfather. - I have known several highly respected technical directors leave AMAT due to internal politics. - Managers have no idea what their employees are up to and what their goals and ambitions are. Managers have a tunnel vision to satisfy their immediate bosses without any clear focus on what they expect out of their employees.

Explore other reviews about Applied Materials

5.0
May 27, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good company , benefits , lots of room for growth

Cons

Slow changes , tech related software on the IT side are very old.

4.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Strong place to start your career. If you do the Fusion Program you will learn a lot. Good training and benefits. Amazing Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Coworkers are smart and grounded people.

Cons

Stingy with salary, raises, and promotions. The engineer roles are broken up into Jr and Senior so the title progression goes Engineer I, I Sr, II, II Sr, etc which slows career progression and pay. Only the CA office gets extra pay due to the expense of living there, even if the MA office is expensive.

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