Asyst Technologies Employee Reviews for Director of Software Engineering

"It has been very challenging keeping up with the paces of the Semiconductor industry."

"This review is stated with the utmost respect towards the company and current employees."

What do you like about working at Asyst Technologies?

"At one point in time Asyst Technologies was the forefront of specific technologies development in the SemiConductor industry, leading the way in specified products which had the capability of revolutionizing the SemiConductor 'industry.. Asyst had lost that opportunity over the years and was trying to reclaim that title with it's latest R&D products. Since working in the R&D group for the New Product Introduction group there was a fair amount of new innovation that was being developed. This type of new innovation truly attracted me in staying with the company."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"If you are to interview with Asyst Technologies I would inquire about the stability of the Chapter 11 filing and I would recommend to hear a short dissertation on what the company's short term goals are and their long term goals."

What don't you like about working at Asyst Technologies?

"The direction of some of the decisions in upper management were not always clear and concise. There was also a vast majority of independent directions at all levels of management. This created confusion for the entire company. There was also a fair amount of attrition which led to a lack of core competencies. This was a constant struggle for progressive thought due to the lack of tribal knowledge."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Currently times within this economy at all business levels are very hard. At one point in time Asyst Technologies had a very strong engineering group with very unique products in a very strong economy. Additionally the entire management group was very strong possessing a true belief in the company's products, directional goals and comprehension of the industry. As the years went by and the SemiConductor industry became more volatile I do not believe that management at all levels possessed the same goals and understanding for the ever changing company and industry. Core knowledge disappeared and executive decisions were made more on emotion rather than true understanding of what Asyst Technologies could or could not produce for the SemiConductor industry. My advice would be to seriously take another look at the company from a straw-man perspective and get back to basics. See what Asyst can or cannot produce during these challenging times.There is truly no need to have the number of VPs and management in a company that has declared Chapter 11 and is struggling for it;s own survival. They should try to assess what the new vision for the company will be, perhaps a smaller vision, however a safe and profitable one to create stability for all (Customers, Employees inclusive of Contractors and Vendors) for now. It has been stated from a few VPs at Asyst Technologies that it is much easier to grow a company than to keep having layoff after layoff just to accommodate the ever challenging economy. Stick to one or two core competencies and jettison the rest to make the best efforts for the new vision for the company. This is my perspective from being at the company for many years having seen many managers come and go just to introduce change. Having different selling ideas and different philosophies. The energies that it takes to move a company from one direction to another is massive and also time consuming. If this movement is done over and over with each new management level that gets inserted into Asyst Technologies then there is a vast amount of energies just expended on changing directions each and every time. Too much of a waste if you ask me."