field service engineer

maintenance technician

technician

gas technician

senior field service engineer

WGNSTAR

I worked for NSTAR Global Services for 5 1/2 years as a contractor for Applied Materials. They were good when I first started working for them as they were a small company and we had weekly pay. Then they merged with M&W Group. Ever since then, I've noticed the company going down hill. The regional managers are not involved enough with their employees so it makes it hard to build a good relationship with the company. The medical insurance they provide is horrible and very expensive. They don't reach out to their employees when they need a job even though you try to reach out to them. 

I've had the opportunity to work on a project with M&W group and it was terrible. The manager assigned to the project was young and did not posses any good management skills. Anyone in a position of management that throws tools around in a warehouse creating an unsafe work environment, does not deserve to be a manager. 

It was clear to me that this NSTAR does not care about their employees as they have ditched me without any communication to me about being dropped from them, I found out by not being able to log into my NSTAR email account. This is a sad action from a company that claims to be a "great company to work for". They under pay their employees while NSTAR makes all the profits from you working your butt off. In the five years I worked for them, I received only a $1.00 raise, even though my reviews were above average and I was an exceptional employee. 

I will never work for NSTAR Global Services again and hope their business fails because good hard working people do not deserve to be kicked to the curb. Thanks for nothing NSTAR!

Westerwood went through a tough spot with poor employees. Many of which have been terminated for the best of the company. Some were managers, some were maintenance technicians. Those poor reviews are those guys complaining! If you're looking to not be held accountable, be at work on time, can't take coaching well, have an attendance problem, not willing to progress your talents and training onsite supporting the customer this company is NOT for you. Let me repeat, if you have any of these poor work traits, do not apply. Save the Team from you being a problem on our shift. Yes, the Ocotillo site has a new management team in place and are being held to high standards from there customer. They are positioning themselves for big growth. Upper management promotes internal promotions which I got in less than 5 months and I'm hoping when the customer hires again that I will have an opportunity to interview with them and get hired as a customer maintenance technician. This is another benefit working for Westerwood Global as I could not get an interview with the customer. Agreed, Westerwood Global pay and benefits aren't as robust as the customers but if they were the customer wouldn't need Westerwood Global, this is a great way to get your foot into the door in this industry. Keep your nose clean, show up when your supposed to work, care about progressing your job, your career and performance will be rewarded.

A Misleading and Disappointing Experience

I was initially very excited to accept a position at WGNSTAR. The company promised me a full-time, non-contract role with benefits and the opportunity to work with a great team. During the interview process, they emphasized the stability of the position and their partnerships with two other companies, which made me feel confident about the opportunity.

Unfortunately, the reality was far from what I was promised. I started on November 27th and worked for barely three weeks before I was abruptly laid off during Christmas week. This was a devastating experience, especially considering the timing and the fact that I was misled into believing this was a secure, long-term role.

On top of that, the team dynamics were disappointing. The lead barely interacted with me, and the overall team environment felt unwelcoming and disconnected. There was no real sense of camaraderie or support, which only made the short time I spent there even more disheartening.

The entire process—from being misled about the role to being let go without warning—was incredibly frustrating. If you’re considering working here, I would strongly advise asking very specific questions about job stability and team expectations, because my experience was anything but stable or positive.

Working at WGNSTAR is definitely an interesting experience. The job environment is somewhat like being on-site and on-call — you'll be on site for 12hr shift and some days you might have nothing to do, and other days you're suddenly overwhelmed with tasks. It can be unpredictable, which might work for or against you depending on your preferences.

Pros:
-Frequent downtime can give you space to work on personal goals or side projects.
-You'll meet and work with some genuinely great people.
-If you're looking to break into the semiconductor industry, this can be a solid entry point. With 1–2 years of experience here, you’ll likely be able to move on to better opportunities.

Cons:
-Communication is poor across the board. What you're told during hiring often doesn't match the reality of the job. Many in management seem unclear on what the role actually involves — or they withhold details just to fill positions quickly.
-Management overall is ineffective and often unresponsive.
-Compensation is mediocre, especially given the expectations.
-Prepare to be abused by the blue bade employees. As most are rather lazy and try to push off their job onto you. However, I do want to stress this is not all blue badges. 

Low pay, sub-par, convoluted training, expensive, bottom of the barrel benefits and non-existent management. 

Management barely even knows what it's employees actually do, and communication is atrocious. You could lose a shift counterpart, and not even know due to non-existent communication between management and the different shifts and shift supervisors. Pay scale is also a huge issue. This stems from not understanding what your employees do, as the workload/type disparity between positions is not accurately represented in hourly pay.

Most positions are completely dead end with low pay and little opportunity for wage increases, which means that, unless you go Blue, which happens 7 times out of 10 for any given employee, you'll inevitably leave for greener pastures. This cyclic action in losing employees after every 6-12 months somehow leaves them dumbfounded as to why they can't keep anyone at Westerwood.

Can only recommend as a steppingstone to Blue badge, as you can usually make it happen within 6-12 months given enough determination.

The interview and onboarding process was pretty straightforward and smooth. Training can be a little challenging depending on what trainer you have and what module you are working in, but mine only took a couple weeks before I could work on my own. I did maintenance on machines when they needed work. There was usually some downtime every shift where not much was going on, but there was enough to make the time go by. The shifts were 12 hours long and they rotated, so I got 4 days off every other week. The weeks where I worked 4 days I got some guaranteed OT, which was nice. I didn't come into the job with a lot of experience, so I liked that I got to learn more about these machines before leaving for a better job. The pay could have been better, but it's what you would expect for an entry level job. The benefits were good and they added more options since I started. Communication from management could have been better, but I'm glad I got the chance to get experience here.

Pros:
Work day is fairly consistent but can change on a moments notice. Condensed work work is nice if you can get use to long 12.5 hour shifts. Two hours overtime every work day is a bonus. Autonomy most times but feels like that is changing and starting to feel micromanaged more. If you're lucky, like I've been, you may get an amazing immediate supervisor that helps you the best they can to feel supported.

Cons:
Most management will tell you what you want to hear to keep you on the job without following through. No information of pay structure and how often you get raises or promotions. Feels like most of the company is winging it. Huge disconnect between management and workers resulting in confusing policies, unreasonable expectations, and lack of consistency. Benefits aren't great. No sick time so you have to use your paid time off for any time off you may need. 

This company is not interested in you doing well. Once you accept an offer, you will get zero training or direction and your manager will not care whether or not you succeed. Unless you’re willing to suck up to the management and play their games, you will never get a promotion. In fact, you might lose your job for not playing the games but don’t worry, they will blame it on something else like your position not being needed, no money available for it, etc. People will talk about you behind your back. The benefits are basically nonexistent. Health insurance can be bought cheaper on your own than it is through payroll here, it’s a joke. The cost is ludicrous. I’m working for another company now smaller than this one and the health insurance is 5% of what I was paying working for Westerwood. If you take a job here, use it as a stepping stone to something better, but don’t plan on a good career here.     

My typical day at work is about customer service & support in a mechanical way, but still customer based.
I have learned that I am able to learn new things that I have never done before and is so different from my aptitude.
I am under management at different levels and yet i relate better with those that i fall under then my co-workers, simply because of age and majority. 
The hardest part of my job is communicating with those that would rather grunt then speak, seriously, that would rather pass blame then take ownership and that would rather cut corners in procedures to get the job done quicker then doing it right the 1st time and feel pride in a days work.  
The most enjoyable part of my job is the recognition i receive from those that mean the most, my supervisors and colleagues from other groups.

This is not a place to work if you have a life outside of work.  It is a twelve hour rotating shift. if you need to take time off you need pre-approval and be sure to submit the request and then remind them of the request and then submit again.  When they came in they promised good working conditions and training sessions to assist in learning the jobs at hand - never delivered.  Pay increases were few and far between and benefits cost the employee more than the company.  We started with twelve paid holidays and when Westerwood came in we were gutted back to five paid holidays.  You have to wait a year to build up your vacation and time off before you can use it.  Over all I'd say if you are desperate for work; they might work out for you.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field service engineer 168 salaries reported	$31.76 per hour
Maintenance technician 102 salaries reported	$21.51 per hour
Technician 39 salaries reported	$27.12 per hour
Gas technician 58 salaries reported	$27.63 per hour
Senior field service engineer 15 salaries reported	$55.10 per hour

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