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Applied Optoelectronics

Engaged Employer

Company culture needs and overhaul - Manufacturing Engineer Applied Optoelectronics Employee Review

1.0
Feb 5, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects.

Cons

* Unstructured work environment. Constant mixed signals from management team regarding job expectation. * Lack of leadership - Most people treat it as simply a job, people in positions of power act as if they have no power or say. * Doesn't seem to matter if you finish projects on time, managers will give more work to those who are productive with little to no acknowledgement. * Unproductive employee can get by by just updating managers as to the problem that they ran into and the reason why they couldn't get the problem solved. No actual problem solving has to take place. * Lack of accountability - Job Functions are not very well defined and will change constantly. * Little to no mid level engineering talent (Good engineers quit bad/indifferent/visa needing engineers stay). Every project must be tacked with little to no support, great for learning but unsustainable in the long run. *Information only flows between middle management and Top management. Engineers are expected to follow management obediently. This is very troubling as Engineering is a decision making role.

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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