Workplace reviews and discussion: 四零四科技股份有限公司

The company clubs and benefits are fairly good. On Monday mornings, there is one hour available for studying. There are also a few days of volunteer leave each year. The company has its own small restaurant downstairs, with a dedicated chef who prepares the meals (at your own expense). The salary is mediocre—pretty much the standard rate for system manufacturers—and mainly relies on year-end and performance-review bonuses to make up for it. As for whether you actually receive them, that depends on your luck.

The BU that works on switches and UARTs is the most profitable in the company; the other BUs are just average, while the embedded BU is the most demanding. Although management says the company culture follows an American-style approach and primarily values performance, in practice it is still a standard Taiwanese company culture: employees have to clock in and out, new hires who leave too early will be singled out by their supervisors, while veterans leave on time. New hires work overtime to the point of exhaustion. The company particularly likes employing alternative-service personnel because they cannot leave. The most outrageous thing is that there is no air conditioning after six o’clock, when the workday ends. It’s fine in winter, but in summer, working overtime is unbearably hot...