software engineer

engineer

mechanical designer

intern

senior software engineer

ASML

Work was interesting and I made many friends =. However, there are some bad ones that make the company look bad. For instance.... 

1. Abusive coworker. She screamed and threatened to report me all the time. She took photos of a misplaced item and displayed it to every group member to humiliate me. She speke Chinese all the time when  there was a work issue. 
2 .My boss is worse than her. He pretended to give me fake interview. He said he was not supposed to be in the interview for ethical reason. But later, he said he is supposed to be in the interview otherwise it is not an interview. He encouraged the coworker to bully me and he told me once, "maybe she had a reason to lose her temper at you."
 My trainer couldn't teach me thoroughly due to language barrier. My boss mocked me and refused to help me learn. He even forbids me to talk to anybody other than my two coworkers and himself. He even warned me that I must take break and lunch exactly at the same time with my coworkers. Which means, I couldn't go anywhere even outside. I had to stay with them exclusively all the time. He forced me to work with my coworker even though he knew I couldn't get along with her. I requested transfer and he threatened that he will report me to his boss. I finally got an interview and was waiting for the result and he ended my contract suddenly to prevent me going to another department. 
To him everything was a joke. He never paid any attention to my trainer’s report. He ignored my progress report and kept going back to beginning and use that as an excuse for not hiring me.

Wilton Management is toxic.  They don't know or care about the product, customer or employees.  Hiring is done via the "Mirror Test" and simply is intended to insert a body into a role.  Management forces ridiculous training requirements on employees that if one were to follow would require 100 hour work weeks.  In my case personally I was told by my manager that I didn't have to worry about training and to simply focus on my project responsibilities...when push came to shove he caved in and I had to do everything.  Projects are completely outsourced meaning ASML Wilton Engineering Roles are nothing more than management roles.  You will sit on 8 to 10 hours of meetings a day watching others do technical work.  When you do get any technical work the process in ASML is so restrictive and locked down that a task that would take normally 1 hour takes 10 hours and a week of training to complete.  Wilton has a European Activity Based Work Environment.  What this means is no assigned desk.  It's a clinical, sterile , impersonal place that is just awful to work at.  ASML targets new Engineers because of the crazy unrealistic schedules and working conditions employees are exposed to.  The youngsters don't know any better.  The even do this to Co-Developers they deal with.  Basically ASML looks for the cheapest Bids and then forces the Co-Developers to follow ASML process.  This ends up costing the Co-Developer $. Finally ASML makes a big deal about it's collaborative environment...I would characterize it as a Borg Collective where individuality is stifled along with the productivity it provides...AVIOD THIS PLACE! 

As a service engineer a typical day would be: 
1. Get updates on current system conditions.
2. Get updates on customer requests and concerns.
3. Collect and analyze data from customer systems.
4. Create and implement action plans based on data analysis.
5. Report progress to customer and managers.
6. ensure all required documentation is completed. (Part orders, spares, timesheets, pass down information)

What I learned:
1. how to manage and communicate with my customers both internal and external.
2. To be a team player and leader.
3. To provide knowledge transfer to the team.
4. That being in management was not for me.
5. Listen to customer complaints
6. Empathy for the customer and his concerns.

Hardest part of the job?
In the beginning, learning about ASML systems and at the same time learning how customers used them.

Most enjoyable?
1. Completing a project on time and with minimal down time for the customer. 
2. Studying ways to become a more informed engineer.
 For example: 
1. Engaging others (ASML and customer engineers) in conversations designed to improve knowledge.
2. Reading current technology news and information.
3. Designing new ways to learn. (training)
4. Reporting positive results to management.
5. ASML training curriculum




ASML is an industry leader but also has a lot to learn from other companies. The people who work here are extremely smart and being able to work with machines more complex than a space shuttle is quite a demanding task. Management is lacking in nearly every sector and this causes very bright employees to seek alternative options. There is no focus on personal growth and development of junior members because projects are so demanding and leave little time for improvement of internal processes. Management is very "old school" and needs to adapt to working with bright young minds. Many people stuck in their ways but there are initiatives to change this. It is a good company to work for; however, due to HQ in Europe and stakeholders around the globe, be prepared to work on average 10+ hours a day. This is not a 9-5 job and work-life balance is tough. ASML tries to find a balance but many people are overworked and have poor attitudes about their jobs. Regardless, the company still offers very good benefits, 3 weeks off, good salary. Overall a great company to start your career with, but you must be stubborn in your goals and constantly let your wants and needs known to your management....or else you will become just another small fish in a big pond with no advancement opportunities.

A typical day at work often felt rigid and siloed. Much of the time was spent chasing down documentation, waiting on code reviews, or aligning with teams that operated in their own bubbles. Progress often felt slow due to excessive bureaucracy and overly cautious processes.

I learned a lot about corporate politics, navigating red tape, and how not to manage technical debt. While I did improve technically—especially in writing test cases and automation—I found the lack of innovation and slow decision-making frustrating.

Management was inconsistent. While some managers were supportive, others were unresponsive or disconnected from the team’s day-to-day work. Feedback was rare unless something went wrong, and upward mobility felt gated by seniority rather than merit.

The workplace culture was hyper-structured and resistant to change. Initiative was often met with “this is how we’ve always done it.” It wasn’t a place that encouraged creative thinking or rewarded taking ownership.

The hardest part of the job was staying motivated. Projects were often assigned without clarity or ownership, and roadblocks outside of your control were common. It was difficult to feel impactful or engaged.

The most enjoyable part was collaborating with a few sharp, kind colleagues who made the job more bearable—and the occasional moment when something I built actually worked and was appreciated.

This company gives you a wow factor. Big factories, full staff kitchen 24/7, overtime was plentiful, and they offer a lot of social benefits. 
When I first started, everything was great. As the company grew, problems arised. They wanted 24/7 production but no coverage from engineers, management, support, etc. They also dont have enough parking during the day time and you will be penalized if your late to work. The line to park can be 20-30 minutes. Management needs to be completely gutted. Blame game happens a lot. Favorites are a thing to some bosses and the promotion selections are a joke. its based off a graph. You will have always poor performance people and a lot of oks. very few greats and promotions is at the discretion of the management. So don't upset them. Management allows shift vs shift mentality and a lot of stress to get the job right. paperwork get redundant where you have to put the same information on 5 different areas (paper, computers, spread sheets etc.)   Management will hire outside of the company from failed companies and hope they have results. Don't expect to be promoted up to many ranks in 20 years

As an employee who has dedicated three years to this company, I am deeply disappointed by the consistent mismanagement and lack of care for workers, particularly on the 2nd shift. The team is reduced to the bare minimum number of staff, leading to overwhelming workloads that cause rapid burnout. Management appears indifferent to these challenges, prioritizing their own metrics and year-end bonuses over employee well-being. Their focus is solely on “checking boxes” to ensure things look good on paper, with little regard for the toll it takes on the workforce.
The severe understaffing has noticeably slowed production, creating daily challenges that could be mitigated with better planning and staffing decisions. Despite my commitment and the valuable skills I’ve gained over three years, there have been no opportunities for advancement, which adds to the frustration. While I’ve learned a great deal, the lack of support and recognition from management makes it difficult to remain motivated. This environment urgently needs leadership that values its employees as much as it values its bottom line.

A typical day can vary greatly from routine reporting and meeting, to one-off challenges, which can be technical or non-technical in nature, to customer meetings and escalations. Continual innovation and changes abound (the average product life cycle is a few years and each system costs approximately 100 million, many new problems can surface along the way). Management is more matrix based than line function based with many opportunities to interface with all level internally and externally. The work place culture is one of 'why', as we are often testing new boundaries in science, technology and physics. The hardest part of the job is often finding the information to help with new solutions as many boundaries are often being pushed. This is offset by the satisfaction of know, that once a problem is solved, the customer is happy and that we as a team have done a good job. The next problem soon arises. The company is multi-cultural with many nationalities represented, from Americans to Koreans, Dutch, Asians & everywhere between. This multicultural environment leads to many interesting conversations at the coffee bar (we have 2 in the local office which employs approximately 600 individuals)

ASML might be a very good company however, the Korean branch is quite far from meeting the reputation of the entire company itself.

The following explains why.

1. The managers are unbelievably narrow-sighted.
    They only care about themselves, not the skill improvements of employees. This severely limits the career path of an employee.

2. Job opportunities are extremely limited.
    Even if one desires to work for another department, he/she will have to endure severe penalty regarding the Year End review. Moreover, if one seeks to work as an application engineer, a Master`s Degree is mandatory, while the company is not supportive in pursuing academic degrees.

3. Work training is extremely limited.
    Nearly everything has to be learned on-site, while we are dealing with one of the most advanced, sophisticated machines the industry utilize. In this way, people tend to become conservative in terms of knowledge sharing.

4. The customers are probably the worst in the entire industry.

5. Internal politics seem to be more important than skills in terms of advancing to the next level.


* Please note that such negative feed-back is limited to ASML Korea. ASML is indeed a great place to work.

I worked at ASML in Wilton as mechanical design engineer for 3 years. 
Poor managers and team leaders running the projects who makes schedules at fly without technical inputs from team members.
Blaming culture between departments where tasks/process crosses roads and ownership.
Helpful HR. Paid vacation.
Lot of complex and unclear process.
No training for process and no owners for processes. No help from managers.
No life work balances.
Work from home during weekend is becoming normal to meet project deadline. Open offices (no cubicles) with lot of noises. 
Product has quality issues and customers are screaming for it but managements seems to not taking care of it.
Profit sharing(%) is no longer applicable all across board. They have reduced it.
Huge turnover of the engineers in Wilton.

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