Job Title: Sr. Business Analyst
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Submitted on: 16-Jan-04
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| Sr. Business Analyst |
Corporate Culture:
AMD's culture is very much in flux. Founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders,
AMD followed the mantra "Take care of the people, and the products and
profits will follow." AMD espouses 'AMD Values' which are Respect for
People, Integrity & Responsibility, Competition, Knowledge, Initiative
& Accountability, and Our Customers' Success.
But Jerry Sanders has retired as CEO, and Hector Ruiz is just beginning
to flex his cultural muscle as head of AMD.
Jerry Sanders is famous for flashy marketing and flair, whereas Hector
is a well-known operations manager and engineer from Motorola. Hector
was seen as bringing a bottom-line execution focus to the company, and
has lived up to expectations.
The result has been massive layoffs (>80% in some departments) and the
wholesale outsourcing of many functions to Indian contractors. The re-
making of AMD has been traumatic for employees.
AMD has gone from a company which prided itself on loyalty and family
(and being in the Best 100 Companies to Work For) to a place where
people look over their shoulders, wondering if they're next.
Almost every point of contact between employees and management - from
raises and promotions and bonuses to severance packages and benefits
and employee development - has been reviewed with an engineer's eye for
extracting the last drop of efficiency at the employees' expense.
But all is not gloomy - there are lots of opportunities for growth,
especially for new hires who are unencumbered by the former AMD
culture. Leaders from Intel, Cisco, and other hard-charging
competitive environments will feel completely at home.
And there will be ample opportunity for them, as the long-time AMD
employees are leaving in droves - the worker bees through layoffs, and
the upper management through retirement.
The new AMD values entrepreneurial dedication - a willingness to put
all else aside and get the job done, regardless of whether it's your
responsibility; organizational flexibility - since the more-streamlined
AMD will rely on cross-organizational talents to get the job done.
Bottom Line - for those in chip design, AMD provides a fantastic
opportunity, with impressive bonuses, perks, and status. Everyone else
is considered non-essential.
Diversity:
AMD is very diverse - as a Silicon Valley high-tech company, diversity
is a given. American-born caucasian males are definitely in the
minority at AMD, with the tech-heavy positions having a great
representation of Indian and East Asian engineers.
Hours:
Depending on the position, hours are very flexible. Telecommuting and
flex-time are both available to most non-production employees (if you
work a shift in the factory, you have to be there for your shift).
Employees are given generous leeway in setting their schedules, and
several managers have explicitly said that they don't care how many
hours you work in a week, as long as the work gets done.
Please note that this attitude may change substantially as the culture
changes from Jerry's AMD to Hector's AMD.
Dress Code:
Dress varies depending on the department. Obviously, customer-facing
positions require better attire than engineers. Jeans and t-shirts are
the norm for engineers; very few managers wear ties. Business casual
rules the more formal departments, and chip designers wear shorts in
the summer.
Opportunities for Advancement:
At the beginning of 2004, AMD is separated into the Haves and the Have-
Nots. Chip designers, PhD R&D manufacturing process specialists, and
anyone in middle management and above are lavished with bonuses,
options, and incredible advancement opportunities. It's not unheard-of
for a junior manager to become a middle manager within a year, and for
middle managers to become directors and VPs within a few years.
Most of this is due to organizational turmoil in the ceaseless
reorganizations and restructurings.
But for individual contributors outside of chip design, these same
restructurings greatly limit advancement opportunities. One coworker
describes his department as "The Mafia - someone has to die for you to
move up." This is a pretty common feeling among individual
contributors.
And the situation is exacerbated by the (natural) tendency of new
management to bring in like-minded managers to head departments. Many
long-time AMDers have seen their advancement halted by a new VP, who
then proceeds to bring in new directors as direct reports, who then add
new senior managers as direct reports.
There's definitely a feeling of 'too many chiefs and not many indians
left after all the layoffs.' Be forewarned that, if you're not a
Chief, you'll undoubtedly be an Indian for a long time.
A parting thought: During the 1990's, many AMDers sat around in the
cafeteria discussing the 'evil Intel' and saying how they'd never want
to work in a place as unfriendly as Intel. Now, many of my friends are
desparately calling their colleagues at Intel, hoping for a lifeline
out of AMD.
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