ASML

Thought-provoking, difficult work. Good pay and above-average benefits. Good stepping stone for career growth.

Terrible instability:

• Do not expect to have the same boss for more than 6 months. During my time at ASML, I had 4+ Group Leads (GL), 8+ Project Leads (PL), and 5+ Team Leads/MDOs (TL).

Poor management:

• There is a 50/50 chance of having a good Group Lead or Project Lead. Yet, with the constant change, it is hard to tell who you have and when you have a good one.
• Bad GL/PL/TL are really bad. If you are on a team with a bad GL/PL/TL, do not expect to have any support and expect to get blamed when things go wrong. Finger-pointing should be expected.
• Due to the constant instability, do not expect PL/TL to have a good grasp on the projects (especially the bad ones).

Bad work/life balance:

• Work/life balance is constantly discussed. This is due to each employee having such a large workload.

High amounts of tribal knowledge:

• Despite the documentation, there is a high amount of tribal knowledge that is hard to get. Expect it to take 1yr+ to get a good grasp of what your team is doing.

Have better support of team members. Avoid finger-pointing. Have better onboarding for all positions.