Pros
For fresh college grads (ME, BME, EE, CS, Physics) feeling left out of the tech world, Applications Engineering is the perfect avenue to find your way toward a career in tech:
- You can work 40-50 hours a week and still be very successful - Work/Life balance is fantastic!
- Career flexibility (sales, R&D, support, product management, marketing)
- Management looks for ways to use your unique skills and passions
- Opportunities for fun and interesting travel
- Open workplace communication, no need to watch your back
- Opportunities to work directly with Director and VP level within first few years
- Lots of happy hours at work, at times there are free tickets to Austin area activities
- Recently upgraded 15-days of vacation for new hires starting in 2016, plus 10 company holidays and generous sick time.
- Work with a lot of fun, smart people
- Great job security
NI is involved in a lot of neat technology development that advances science and engineering, such as humanoid robots, space exploration, innovative cancer treatments, and cutting edge consumer and automotive tech. Its exhilarating to have a window into this innovation that is taking place with NI tools.
Cons
- AE time is not counted toward career job experience (i.e. might spend two years doing tech support and then transfer into R&D, only to start out as a level 1. Your friends at other companies might get senior (level 3) before you are even level 2.)
- Like at any company, decision-making can become mired in executive-level politics. Business owners have decision making rights, except when the CEO disagrees. This can result in awkward stalemates or demoted business owners.
- Average compensation for software development and product management is significantly below Austin averages. An internal working group is investigating this, but it comes down to the company needing to grow.
- NI isn't very good at firing people (see job security above). This means you sometimes get stuck working with people that aren't very good at their job and this can block a lot of progress.
