Pros
The freedom to take care of issues I deemed that needed to be improved upon. The ability to Telecommute once every one or two weeks. The ease of being able to talk to all levels of management.
Cons
The cyclical nature of the industry leads to a very stressful life at AMAT. Way too many layoffs while holding onto a huge amount of cash on hand which was meant to "get the company through rough times". The cash reserves seemed to never get touched. Even during periods of layoffs (3-6 layoffs every two years), cash was added to the reserves. Management had their "favorite sons" which could do no wrong and were given all the "fun" assignments. Employees were frequently "pigeon holed" in positions they were good at even if they were not happy there. Work that nobody wanted to do was usually pushed completely onto one person.