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National Instruments

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National Instruments reviews

3.7

68% would recommend to a friend

(2,458 total reviews)

Alex Davern

62% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

National Instruments has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,458 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The National Instruments employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
3.0
Jul 15, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

National Instruments is a laid back company which adopts the mantra of "No offices", so everyone is either in a cubicle or an open concept area where the entire section of the floor can be seen at once. In some cases, this can be good because communication between co-workers is easy, however in some cases the lack of privacy and ability to work alone can be an issue. In terms of co-workers, I found everyone to be extremely smart and capable when compared to past companies, and the projects themselves offered a great opportunity to increase my knowledge base

Cons

The main issue with working at National Instruments is the salary. The work expected from you is the same in terms of skill and involvement as some of the larger well-known tech companies, however the salary does not reflect or compliment the skill level and time committed by employees

4.0
Jul 10, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A great place to launch a career. Since the company is growing, there are clear paths to take your career upward. Also, since the company is focused around R&D (most of the senior manangement came from that deparartment) a clearly defined technical track is available - no need to leave an engineering position in order to achieve a promotion. Since the vast majority of incoming employees have just completed their undergraduate degrees, the company feels very young, and I've made some of my best friends in Austin from my pool of coworkers. Austin is a reason to work here in itself.

Cons

Pay is slightly below average. Management continues to act as if they are a small startup and continually promote a 20-40% growth message without providing clear direction how that is achievable.

4.0
Jul 8, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Phenomenal coworkers and a rich work atmosphere. NI's philosophy of recruiting the "best and the brightest" really shines in the quality of people it employs. Extremely bright, fun, diverse, out-going people people hired into the company make everything else tolerable. Flexible scheduling. Very little micro-management. Plentiful opportunities and encouragement to increase company knowledge. Very environmentally conscious. National Instruments does a good job of providing employees outlets for creativity, though it sometimes neglects to properly acknowledge achievements of creativity. Granted, this will happen with any company, but it seems that tactful self-promotion is the preferred method of praise at NI, which can be a bit awkward. Lots of travel opportunities--for the first year or two.

Cons

Not many opportunities for vertical career advancement; career openings appear in more of a horizontal position. Sometimes it's hard to be motivated for extra work when the reward doesn't necessarily move your career, say, three steps forward. Rather, it moves your career one step forward and then two steps to the left or the right. Managers act more like motivational orators than genuine logistics coordinators and mentors. You ask a manager a question, and assuming a ten-minute reply from a manager, the reply will have the following breakdown: 8 minutes will consist of compulsory enthusiasm and praise to you, and in the remaining 2 minutes might be the answer you wanted. The rich work atmosphere is regularly clouded by typical run-of-the-mill corporate hoopla. (The hype has good intentions, of course.)

Viewing 2440 - 2442 of 2,458 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,925 National Instruments reviews submitted anonymously by National Instruments employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if National Instruments is right for you.