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Applied Optoelectronics

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It can be so much more - Anonymous employee Applied Optoelectronics Employee Review

1.0
Jul 21, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good job security. They wont fire you even you do absolutely NOTHING. Benefits are actually good.

Cons

This will be a long list: Shady performance review and promotion system. Engineers with different job descriptions are compared with each other. By that logic, you should be comparing that guy that cleans CEOs car with cleaning ladies. And this "normalization algorithm" is just shady as *. Now they are even implementing a special performance grade just for R&D. If base salary for RD is already higher than other engineers, why do you need a special grade? Getting a promotion does not guarantee a raise(like, seriously?) Cronyism. Bunch of people does not know anything but playing politics. Terrible training system. Some departments not carrying their weight (looking at you, facilities and QC). Upper managements setting unrealistic goals with no extra resources. Incompetent lower managements. This is however somewhat due to upper managements like to micro manage everything. Low base salary. I heard new hires are getting better offers these days, but it is nowhere near to being competitive. Overall poor planning and slow decision making. Dead weights that handles crucial and time sensitive tasks not delivering even once, but never called out nor corrected. Meanwhile people that have been performing extremely well is asked to work even more overtime. Just to name a few from the top of my head.

Explore other reviews about Applied Optoelectronics

5.0
Dec 14, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A lol company that brings you nightmare?

Cons

A company that makes you pick a mental health insurance

1.0
Jul 16, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Growing industry, the Sugar Land headquarters is a nice facility.

Cons

The organization does not position itself as caring about the individual development of its individual people they need in order to stay around. The company is exclusively focused on the growth of the organization and meeting a staffing headcount, that it completely disregards the value of putting its actual people first. Then leadership has the audacity to wonder why the attrition is so high, especially from the non exempt departments. People will not stay here and deal with condescending leadership, passive aggressive or not, and inequitable pay for long hours and work task well above the titles you insist on keeping them in. Lack of a nepotism clause, lack of leadership or any real change initiatives, inequitable pay, condescending leadership, treatment of non exempt employees as a second class workforce.

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