AVOID Dielectric Etch at ALL cost!!! Both Process and Productivity!! - Product and Process Engineer Lam Research Employee Review

2.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay is market rate or slightly higher. Smart new fresh grads join every year. They work hard.

Cons

Avoid Dielectric Etch Org as much as you can. Both product and process engineering. Constant Pressure, extreme long work hours, You are working 7/8 AM to 9/10PM, need to work on weekends because of lack of tool times. High level management yelling, screaming in meetings for anything trivial. If CVP wakes up not happy that day, someone will get yelled at in either large or small meetings for small things. THIS IS Dielectric Etch Culture at Lam. This place is a cesspool of nepotism. Even director levels are being yelled at constantly in meetings for various reasons, if he or she is not favored by the CVP. If a mediocre engineer or director who is liked by CVP, he will have much easy time cruising through with minimal effort and knowledge. ... If you are fresh PhD from top or mid tier schools, expect 80hr work weeks, and if you are not lucky, wait for 4 years to be promoted from lvl 3 to 4 level and stuck with no options to move around because you are stuck in Semiconductor equipment industry and other orgs in Lam won't take you. There are many junior engineers with excellent work ethic stuck doing the same things for half a decade without a move in their career. But if you are good at lip service, your life will be easier. Do not trust the general statement of Lam has good culture, it is very very dependent on which Org inside Lam.

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5.0
Jun 11, 2026
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Pros

Lead business and overview of business

Cons

Too many travelling to international

2.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Good pay with decent benefits.

Cons

Highly toxic in certain (not all) business units. Directors and above held to far lower standards than employees. I received a lot of abuse from my manager and when I reacted, she used it against me over the course of five years, resulting in my launching an ER investigation upon which resulted in my termination. (They weren't even adult enough to tell me I was being fired; I found out by accident when I received a termination paycheck). Would love to recommend, but would never recommend Lam based on the treatment I got from my entire leadership chain over a five year period. PS, pretty sure retaliation of this nature is against the law; looking into it.

3
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