Management are not managers, rather they are engineers that have been promoted and don't have the right skill-set. The CEO does not have the education for his position, which is arguably why they have not done well. Their competition is off-shore, so your efforts are to compete on cost against a manufacture with hundreds of millions lower overhead - which translates into not being able to order parts/tools to make your job easier, not being able to go to necessary training (rather a lot of it is OJT). There are time and education requirements for promotion, and if you miss them, even slightly, despite being overqualified in other areas, doesn't matter.
Some employees have enormous potential, yet due to the documented educational barrier, "upper management" denies their existence (I met a guy with a photographic memory who could have done my job with his eyes closed, yet they wouldn't consider promoting him 1 step in the chain.)
After working there for my contract length, I left. As did many employees under their contract. In fact most employees talked openly about just waiting for the contract to end. Not unlike the military in that regard. The pay was poor, the expectations were inconsistent with pay, and the 'managers' were not management, they had just been their longer.
A substantial problem Micron had, is that they wanted to give a 15% cost of living adjustment because we worked in Manassas, not Idaho. Seeing as how Manassas, a suburb of Washington DC, costs ~40% more than Idaho, employees were being grossly shortchanged.
Now I agree, myself and my coworkers could have denied the job, however you don't realize how not good the job is until you work there and they have had you sign your 'I will pay for my relocation if I do not complete my contract length.' Which is several years long. Not prorated. Not alterable in the event of involuntary pay reductions.
I speak highly of all my former employers, except Micron. And this isn't to imply I've had a lot, I have just worked for 15 years.
