Texas Instruments

Well compensated, excellent training opportunities. Excellent technical staff. Good balance between work and life pressures. Healthy work environment, little outrageous overtime expectations.

My group, which was eliminated in 2009, had little focus or direction. There was no sales team, and a marketing group which did not seem to do much other than 'work from home' and compile Googled lists of news items concerning the group.

There was a strange sense of stagnation and general lack of 'life force.' Potential business was pursued in a lackadaisical way, with lost opportunities and bad focus. Timing was always off by a year or two.

Higher management was never there, frequently at the golf course, and frequently misrepresented the group to their higher management.

There were byzantine management politics; it was top-heavy, and difficult to get things done. I never had much clear direction or understanding of what exactly was expected from me, or when.

Almost pointless to say this, because it will never be done, but vast sections of middle managers could be eliminated without much detrimental effect – rather than technical people.

Farming everything out to China proved to be a big mistake this fall.