Applied Materials

In the semiconductor industry, one of the only companies with a clear goal on how to survive the recent semi-downturn and come out strong appears to be one of the better corporate citizens.

As I have read in other reviews, there is too much work politics. The company is literally structured as a "resource fest" with too many stretch goals, insufficient resources, and slightly incompetent upper management.

This is the result of being in too many spaces and spread too thin. Also, being a publicly traded company, too much emphasis is placed on the short-term bottom line with shareholder appeasement (and still doing poorly) over taking care of employees.

Additionally, benefits are only average, especially for a high-tech company.

The capability of an outsourced development team is often overrated.