Pros
- Decent starting pay - Condensed shifts; alternating between working 3 and 4 days a week with 12 hour shifts. Not for everyone, but you have half the week to yourself. This also means you're guaranteed 8 hours of overtime pay every other week. - If you finish your assignment(s) early for the day and nothing more needs to be done, you can leave the clean room, prop your feet up somewhere on Intel's campus, grab a bite, watch Netflix or do whatever until either more work popped up or your shift ends; all while getting paid just to be on standby. - Work ebbs and flows, with some days having very little or no work to do. On rare occasions you may not have to go into the clean room at all. This is especially true around the beginning of Summer, when multitudes of Intel tool operators and leads start taking vacation. - Plenty of chances to pick up more overtime by substituting on other shifts. If you complete your work before the end of shift you're usually allowed to go home early but still get paid the full 12 hours. -People usually take 2-hour lunch breaks, which is reasonable as it takes ~15 minutes to get out of the clean room and de-gown and up to another 15 to get off-campus (Don't worry, you're still paid to be there from 7a-7:30p or 7p to 7:30a) - Semi-frequent work outings paid for by the company
Cons
- You have little say on what department or shift you get assigned to. - Almost every new FSE starts as a temp. - Training is baptism by fire. Almost all your training is done on the job, meaning if you've never done something before and you're only assigned to work with one other person you'll be struggling to finish it in a reasonable time and bound to make mistakes, all the while Intel is breathing down your neck to get it done. Cements you as the F.N.G. with a big fat capital F pretty quickly... - Coworkers will all too often get into discussions about politics and half the time the leads and supervisors seemed happy to join them or look the other way. - Some FSEs are more concerned about getting the work done as fast as possible and getting out of the clean room ASAP, cutting corners by skimping out on quality checks, flubbing measurements, etc. just to shave minutes off their work. Its unethical and goes against the company's quality and safety mantras. - Coworkers seem content to gossip and smear one-another behind each other's backs. - Though the title is Field Service "Engineer", you're essentially a glorified, specialized technician. Though they prefer someone with a 4-year STEM degree, it feels like a waste as all you really need are decent problem solving/troubleshooting skills, a decent comprehension of machines, and you know how to turn a wrench.
