Pros: Free coffee and live plants

Cons: Horrible working hours Stressful work environment Poor pay increases

Pros: 1. Compensation: Great salary and bonuses. TSMC provides above-market pay (more than other semi-companies) for most of its employees, including technicians, engineers, and managers. The relocation package they provided was over-the-top generous and really helped me settle into the greater Phoenix area. 2. Corporate culture: Feedback-heavy culture but emphasized commitment, low-key, and pursuit of excellence. It took me a little bit to get used to the "continuous improvement" culture of TSMC, as you will always get more feedback than compliments in this company. It can be mentally tough in the beginning but will eventually build your character and force you to be the best version of your professional self. Commitment-wise, TSMC really emphasizes the value of keeping your word to your clients, suppliers, managers, and subordinates. This means going above and beyond for everything you promised to turn in. This can be very stressful at times, but I grew tremendously under this corporate culture. Low-key, TSMC values humbleness and having a low-key attitude. Though with the good compensation, some of its entry-level employees and first-line managers can be seen as show-offs at times, the majority of management and senior leaders are humble and down-to-earth people that truly value integrity and doing the right thing. This also means giving out zero to nothing of press releases about any contribution TSMC provided. Lastly, the pursuit of excellence. This is very similar to the feedback culture. TSMC brings out the best of you by always chasing after excellence. From product quality, wafer yield, to any deliverable you have to hand in, this company asks you to turn in the best version possible. In all honesty, I believe that's what put TSMC above its competitors and what will help to continue its leadership. 3. Work & Career: Being the most advanced semi-company and getting to work with top Silicon Valley clients, like Apple, AMD, and Nvidia, all at once brings me excitement when going to work. Knowing that I am playing with the most advanced technology ever existed also challenges me to do better. No matter the scope of my job, I am constantly working with different equipment engineers, process engineers, and sometimes facility engineers to resolve probably the world's toughest problems.

Cons: 1. It is NOT EASY for a Taiwanese company (non-American companies) to build the most-advanced Fab with the largest capacity in the States. There is quite some work to be done to merge the two cultures. HR has already done a lot of professional development, but you still see cultural clashes when working here. Taiwanese are not used to the innovative, work-smart-not-hard American working styles, while Americans find Taiwanese can be condescending at times. These simply come from a lack of understanding of each other and differences in cultures of communication. Both sides simply want to do well and achieve more, but simply using a different method. 2. Company sometimes gives more tolerance to senior employees who are out of time and incompetent. Keep them at their job simply for their seniority, even though some can be useless. 3. Work-life balance. This is not just referring to work hours or work intensity. This means Taiwanese are used to making work a major portion of their lives, aka your friends are mostly work friends and you engage with your superior more in your downtime.

Pros: The only pro to working here is the pay. And that is only if you were lucky enough to get a high starting salary. If you didn’t, you’re out of luck, as the promotion and merit process is extremely arbitrary.

Cons: Aside from the grueling working hours and extreme lack of flexibility, you are subjected to racism on a consistent basis. The Taiwanese “assignee” managers solely focus on hiring and promoting other Taiwanese employees. There have been several rumors that the managers view Americans as sub-par and rate them on a scale from 1-10, 10 meaning what is the equivalent of a Taiwanese worker is, and 1 being a standard American employee. Whether it’s true or not I don’t know, but based on my experience here I would not be surprised. Circling back to the lack of flexibility, forget your personal life because you will not have one. If you value your health, spending time with family, and working for a company that upholds morality and values, do not work here.