Samsung Austin Semiconductor Reviews

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – CORP Program for Entry-Level, Competive salary for technicians or hourly employee, company benefits and employee appreciation events. Expect to work 60~80 hours per week.

Cons – Dirty office politics, Closed-mind management level, Very protective senior level engineers or managers. Company benefits and perk changes every year depending on company outlook and economy

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than a year

Pros – plenty of overtime to go around

Cons – sometime too much overtime with little recognition given for dedication

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Samsung Austin Semiconductor

Pros – Benefits, company location, Bonuses, lots of young people

Cons – Engineering, work balance, culture, management, on call

Advice to Senior Management – Focus more in engineering

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than a year

Pros – The benefits are good, the bonuses are good, the technology is cutting edge, and the tools are very new.

Cons – The hours are long, the systems are a mess, very little chance to innovate due to "copy exact" mentality. Most positions are filled not by choosing the best candidate, but rather the only candidate available at the time. Turnover rate is high, even in management. Training on tools/systems is not easily obtainable. "Business demands" mean that priorities are shifted constantly and everything is considered an emergency.

Advice to Senior Management – Look to the real issues with employee retention

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The salary is good for Austin. Samsung provides pretty good benefits overall - excellent health benefits, quarterly bonuses (on average 1.5-2 weeks of pay), and 401(k) matching. There's an on-site gym, basketball half court, and coffee shop/counter, Trips to South Korea and vendor training are also possible.

Cons – The worst parts are the high stress and lack of work-life balance. Engineers will be expected to work well over 40-hour work weeks which can exceed 80 hours during periods of new tool installs and new product introductions. Those working in unit parts will be on call 24/7 in order to support manufacturing - meaning you should expect to be contacted in the middle of the night or over the weekend. This site is constantly understaffed, especially with experienced engineers. Samsung burns out a lot of people because the company has very demanding goals and not enough people.

It is very discouraging when you are pushed by management to complete a project and the results are negated a few weeks later when the product that you improved with your project is stopped. Communication and long-term planning are not strengths of this company, but you will be asked to be flexible.

HR needs to stand up against management more often. I have witnessed good people driven out of this company by managers for "performance" reasons that are little more than nitpicking small issues that would be overlooked if the employees were favored. Turnover is very high at Samsung.

Advice to Senior Management – Employees like to feel valued so provide adequate training for their positions, meaningful raises, and recognition for their work. You should utilize engineers and technicians to their full potential, instead of being SOP-following drones. Make retention and hiring quality people a priority.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good compensation and benefits package. Good group of people with high energy. Good place to get started.

Cons – Everything is an emergency. It makes it hard to distinguish what truly is an emergency and what is not.

Advice to Senior Management – Constantly try to diversify the skillset of your people.

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good benefits, salary, and quarterly bonuses. Cool campus with coffee bar, gym, ping-pong, basketball court, and walking trail. When the industry is on the upside, quarterly bonuses can be up to a month's worth of pay. Employee appreciation days and department events are good during this time.

Cons – The semiconductor industry is cyclical, and the downturns are not pleasant. Everyone turns into cost-cutting machines instead of actually improving business processes. Layoffs increase, bonuses dry up, and pressure from HQ increases dramatically. However, the current president has worked hard to prevent layoffs and still provide some bonus.

There is a lot of pressure from management to work, work, work. Work-life balance is something you have to fight for. Product is being run 24/7/365, so that means work accumulates 24/7/365. With more work means more deadlines, more issues to fix, more headaches, and more stress. It often feels like a never-ending marathon. Also, the software systems you are working with are mainly translated versions of HQ's systems and are a pain to work with.

Advice to Senior Management – SAS has a terrible retention rate of their employees. This falls on managers, who are mainly expats on temporary rotations from HQ. Korean culture is very different from American culture. There must be understanding from both sides. SAS is not the pride of the country like it is in Korea. If employees are unsatisfied here, they will not hesitate to find some place more enjoyable. There is too much brown-nosing. Make promotions fair... they should be based off of quality of work not quantity. Communication is also very poor, and arrogance is no way to lead.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than a year

Pros – Benefits and pay are great.

Cons – Stress. Training is terrible. Us versus them mentality between Engineers and technicians.

Advice to Senior Management – Fix corporate culture. Not a lot of happy people due to poor mgmnt. High turnover is the result. Not a lot of mid career people there. Lots of lifers and new unexperience people which suggests a high turnover rate.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor

Pros – Location is good since its in austin

Cons – Management is not so good

I worked at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time for more than a year

Pros – - If you demonstrate potential and capability, you will receive a lot of responsibility quickly
- Really easy to advance in the company - almost all Engineer I's get promoted to Engineer II's after the first or second review
- The people are generally fun and understanding

Cons – - No work/life balance, it's a given you work minimum 10-12 hrs a day, and sometimes you can end up working 80+ hrs a week several weeks in a row with no end in sight, losing weekends and holidays like it's no big deal
- Most of the time spent at work is a waste, with meetings that don't benefit anyone except managers who have to answer to their managers and the next ops meeting
- Miscommunication along every path is unavoidable - internally, interdepartmentally, cross-module, between Austin and Korea - it leads to a lot of frustration and repetitive work that wastes material resources and human resources
- Management handles too much and has no idea what goes on
- Upper management is completely detached from engineers' and technicians' lives
- No sense of safety - some processes involve very hazardous chemicals and conditions and fresh engineers are asked to do things with no guidance or supervision, and protective gear is sometimes refused due to "cost savings" - I've known of people exposed to chemicals and everything was just kept hushed instead of notifying employees and trying to instill a "quality mindset" at the company

Advice to Senior Management – Rather than just talking about caring about people and quality, show it and do something about the mass exodus of employees leaving the company each year

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company