Great environment for an entry level mechanical engineer. Need management shake-up or tear-down. - Mechanical Engineer FormFactor Employee Review

3.0
Jan 21, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This is a great environment for an entry level mechanical engineer or ME with 3-5 years of experience in the electronics industry. Mechanical designs are done in-house and production is on site. It's great to see one of my designs go from CAD drawings and solid models to finished products within a few days to weeks. The complexity of the probe card industry has increased over the last ten years that I worked at FF. This bodes well since FF is at the leading edge of the probe card technology.

Cons

The pay is below average for the probe card manufacturer even though the company is within the top ten in the industry. Management ranges from "great-to-work-with" to "stay-the-heck-away-from" to "can't-do-my-job-unless-I-play-by-their-rules." Vacation and sick is satisfactory ever since paid-time-off became the norm. The recent merger with MicroProbe (in Carlsbad) introduced longer working hours (which is bad for those who are salaried). Bonus pay has been lousy for the lower level employees, but great for managers and higher-ups (which has caused much consternation among the proles). Not much room to move up (promotions are nearly non-existent). Pay raises are low.

Explore other reviews about FormFactor

5.0
Apr 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Welcoming and kind team, willing to teach someone with little experience

Cons

No major cons that I can think of

2.0
Jun 26, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people Good work-life balance, on the production team at least Fairly competitive pay structure for advanced roles if compared with companies in the valley Reasonable performance expectations

Cons

Boneheaded senior management. Director level and below are down to earth and capable of executing, but senior management all brought in from other companies in the last year or two are determined to fail while having feel-good company-wide chats about inclusion instead of building a realistic roadmap. Pay is also very much NOT competitive for labor employees, or for advanced roles when compared with any company just 20 miles east or south.

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