Vantaggi
-There are some amazingly skilled people in many departments, and at the lower levels of TEA. -Pay is decent (not sure of the competition's pay scale) -Its great to be at the ground floor- helping the customer with leading edge technology- you're welcome for your faster smart-phone :) -I keep hearing headquarters in Austin is a great place to work- I don't know for sure.
Svantaggi
Field Service management (especially Boise office)- is a joke. They have mastered the art of Politics, but have no leadership/managerial qualities. Upper management believes all customers/offices are the same (they aren't)- and pass down policies based on the biggest customer- and make all offices follow the same guidelines, WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE.. Local Boise management is clueless- and is basically only there because he's a "buddy" and is no threat to the manager above him. None of the managers in the Central region have any leadership/managerial skills- its obviously a case of the "good ol' boys club. ---The biggest problem isn't so much they are "over their head"(which they definitely are)- its the fact that we keep asking to help change the policies to fit our customers- but management is so arrogant, they won't listen... Overconfident idiots... -Especially in Boise- if you're not management's buddy- you have no hope of advancement- or any hope of recieving important projects. Those are already handed out to buddies, regardless of their technical abilities. -Not only is management continuing to hire buddies. They are placing them in positions to try to advance their career, to the detriment of the other workers. One example- recent buddy (who probably cannot count to ten without help)- is in charge of safety in Boise. Basically- everyone's safety is now risked- only so the boss's buddy can have more job security. It's a scary situation- I won't listen to him on ANY safety issue. -------------Now that the AMAT merger failed, many, many people feel trapped with these idiots and morale is EXTREMELY low. It wasn't great to start with--- but many were hoping AMAT would "clean house" and install productive, business-like managers in at least some places... Sadly, the merger fell through... Nothing but "doom and gloom" around the office now...