Micron Technology reviews

Now for the bad news: 1. Micron does not care about their people nearly as much as they want to promote the appearance of caring about their people. Rather than making appropriate resources and data available to their engineers, they insert extra levels of management that will not understand what you do, what you have contributed in the past, and what you can contribute to the company's future and bottom line. They firmly believe the fount of all managerial wisdom can be found in California alone, and indeed, built an altar to their beliefs there in order to not force their guru and his minions to relocate to Boise. The incredible disconnect between management decisions based on Silicon Valley dynamics and labor pool translate very poorly in an environment where quality of life is still important. California-based managers deliberately reduced all employees to numbers, forced a bell curve assessment model of performance that falsely changed employee rankings, subsequently depriving many not out of just their deserved bonuses, but their very jobs. These rankings were not based on actual performance, but on manipulated numbers highly influenced by politics. In an interesting note: managers were somehow exempt from this ranking system and its consequences, and a curiously large percentage of terminated employees were either older, higher paid, or both.This incredibly misjudged practice has resulted in many valuable employees finding themselves out on the street; many others rejected the management by fear techniques and moved on to greener pastures. Further exacerbating the problem, they have chosen to target still more older, experienced, coincidentally higher paid employees by trying to get them to take a feeble "early retirement" package. It's pretty obvious at this point that catchy "employees matter" slogans cannot hide the fact that they actually don't. 2. If you love having to produce a gourmet meal out of ice cubes and mint leaves, you have come to the right place. Micron has taken austerity measures to a new low, leaving folks scrambling for resources and expected to make decisions by the seat of their pants. Indeed, when the problems are brought up, you are rewarded with more micromanagement and fewer resources. Good luck with that. 3. Lots of employee polls have been taken to see why people are unhappy. Clearly no one actually reads them, or management would not be so mystified. Perhaps employees have figured out that these "anonymous" questionnaires aren't so "anonymous" and can be traced back to them. Perhaps they expect to be told, again, "If you don't like it, LEAVE!" And yet management in California is flummoxed by the number of high quality people...leaving. 4. Micron is Big Brother these days. Your every move is tracked, 500 of your best buddies are thrown into a loud "bullpen" where everyone knows your business, my business, and what their neighbor ate for breakfast. Even better: you are expected to partake of this invasive and utterly chaotic atmosphere 50-60+ hours a week. Hope you are an extrovert! 5. If you are still reading this, you are a glutton for punishment. The amount of time you are expected to work definitely takes a toll on employees and their families. Good thing Micron has such excellent insurance and you can all get counseling...well, the employee can get counseling. Better have a good divorce attorney on retainer, though, because marriage counseling isn't covered! Is this hard on your relationship with your kids? Too bad, family counseling isn't covered, either. Better sock away extra money to buy their love. 6. You had better always agree with whatever ignorant nonsense your boss spouts. If you don't, you are a target in those employee bell-curve rankings. Even better is the fact that if you have any problems with your boss, you can't expect help from their boss...and you can't try to change to another department, because then you are disloyal. Suck it up, Buttercup, and brown nose as though your job depends on it, because it does. 7. If you loved school lunches as a child, brace yourself: lunches at Micron will not meet your exacting standards and will cost an order of magnitude greater than what they are worth. Take heart, though, for the fine establishments frequented by Ronald McDonald and the Burger King are nearby and provide far more quality fare. 8. But wait! There's more! Your 60 hour workweek includes 40 hours of meetings every week, many of which run late into the evening because the engineers in Singapore don't want to get up early but are sure you love to stay late for the pleasure of their wisdom. Surely your job is secure and would never move offshore... 9. Last, but not least, is the employee exercise program, where you are expected to hike two miles a day, come rain, sleet, Snowmageddon, or the blistering sun, just to get into your building and back to where you parked your car. After all, adequate parking costs money that is needed for management bonuses. 10. Okay, so #9 wasn't the last one. When you give notice, Micron walks you off the premises like a mother in law who overstayed her welcome. You may or may not receive your paycheck within the time frame proscribed by law, and your exit interview will include much lamenting by HR that they hear everything that is wrong from each employee who leaves but are truly powerless to change things, because the fount of all wisdom in California does not care. Summary: The culture is toxic, the work environment hostile, and management is distant and incapable of learning from mistakes. If you take a job at Micron, travel light and keep your resume updated.