Good place to work but some room to improve - Engineering Manager KLA Employee Review

4.0
16 May 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Learn useful and efficient ways to manage a differentiated technology business. KLA-Tencor has strong and proven marketing practices so that the products are industry leading. Definitely a good school for techies to understand that customers and marketing matter as much if not more than the beauty or coolness of the technology at work. Hard place to work at for the faint of heart, the culture is pretty much "what you have done for me is great, no what can you do next"... One is never done proving himself which is in the end a rather good thing to sustain or develop one's drive to improve.

Cons

Projects tend to change very fast as the company is extremely reactive to market conditions. If the market opportunity is not clearly defined, or changes during development, then the whole project is canned which can sometimes be frustrating for the development and engineering crew. But most employees would agree that it's better if prevents us to go into a dead end or a commoditized market. Another downside is that the company's benefits are rapidly shrinking in this increasingly competitive environment and one would worry about retention. For most employees, the company seems to not care too much about retention, which sometimes lead to expensive loses of talent or even competition from ex-employees starting their own businesses or joining competitors.

Explore other reviews about KLA

5.0
25 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people to work with

Cons

Cannot find any to be honest

1.0
5 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you’re looking for a place where accountability doesn’t exist and you can do the bare minimum while getting paid maximum overtime, this is your spot. No approval needed, no questions asked—just stay late, watch YouTube, and collect your paycheck (plus free food if you linger long enough). Weekends are basically a free-for-all since the people who are supposed to supervise are either absent or the worst offenders.

Cons

This place is what happens when a parent company buys a smaller one and then completely forgets it exists. There is zero meaningful oversight. Management knows exactly what’s going on—they just don’t care as long as quotas are eventually met. Efficiency, integrity, and actual productivity mean nothing here. Documentation is either nonexistent or completely useless, full of errors and missing critical information. Parts are constantly missing, and instead of fixing the system, people exploit it to justify delays and stretch their hours. The entire operation rewards time-wasting over competence. The culture actively punishes anyone who tries to work a normal, honest 8-hour day. Want recognition or a raise? Better start padding your hours. The more time you burn, the more management “appreciates” you. It’s not about results—it’s about how long you can pretend to be working. Managers, being salaried, conveniently disappear when it matters most—nights and weekends—while turning a blind eye to the dysfunction they fully understand. Leadership isn’t absent by accident; it’s absent by choice.

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