Applied Materials

Why I stayed so long:

• Great co-workers, really a smart, talented, friendly group of people, and I respected and felt respected by them.
• Good benefits, reasonable work/life balance for my job (though perhaps not so much for travel jobs or process engineering, depending).

My daily life was interesting--always a new challenge, a lot of learning over the years.

Some challenges might come from a lack of guidance for newer employees. Many technical people are promoted to be managers without gaining the skills needed to mentor, so learning isn't as facilitated, which leads to a lot of inefficiencies.

I worked during the 2009 downturn, so there wasn't much mobility in the company. This meant a lack of growth – that's my personal experience.

Invest in training managers to be mentors.

Put more effort into the engineering groups in the process of development and passdown of knowledge, so reinventing the wheel isn't the norm.

Bump some pay for people who stuck around through the 2009 downturn, as salaries are lower now than equivalent positions being advertised.

Sick days versus PTO encouraged sick people to stay home and keep the office overall less sick.

Finally, more HUBS.