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National Instruments

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National Instruments Hardware Engineering reviews

3.2

26% would recommend to a friend

(38 total reviews)

Alex Davern

Not enough data to show CEO approval

1% positive business outlook

Hardware Engineering employees have rated National Instruments with 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 38 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Hardware Engineering professionals have a good working experience there. National Instruments is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Hardware Engineering professionals compared to other employers within the Manufactura industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

38 reviews
2.0
Jun 30, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Many hires are fresh from college; if you are one of them (like I was) then you will have many colleagues that are in the same boat as you (new to the Austin area, not yet entrenched in family life, looking to have fun outside of work). New grads are given a great deal of responsibility considering their limited work experience. No dress code and flexible work hours.

Cons

After a couple of years you will have learned most of what there is to learn about data acquisition hardware design (I was a hardware engineer there). Being underpaid and underappreciated it is time to move on at that point. Although senior management has their act together, the mid-level managers that I dealt with were generally not very competent. Mid-level managers promoted a culture of finger pointing, blame deflection, and kissing up ahead of teamwork. This type of culture can be toxic for a technology company, which is proven by the company's financial and stock performance the last several years. The company touted the fact that it could/should grow 20-40% a year; that hasn't come close to happening since I began working there in 2001, and probably will never happen if its culture doesn't change. Unless if you are fresh out of college I think that you would better serve your career by working somewhere else.

5.0
Jun 17, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people who work here are amazing. I can't imagine a work environment more fun, relaxed and still so productive. The benefits package is fantastic and I could not have a better manager. NI treats there employees with respect and gives them a lot of freedom and latitude, but in return expects them to produce at a very high level. It is very obvious why NI has been on the Forbes top 100 best companies to work for 9 years in a row.

Cons

The salaries are competitive (especially for new grad hires) but the salary growth is not ideal. The management relys too heavily on the company stock making up for salary shortfalls when it has not grown nearly as quickly since the 2001 tech bust. These issues along with how long it takes people on the technical track to achieve promotionshave led to a problem with retention of new grad hires after the 5-7 year mark.

Viewing 37 - 38 of 38 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,927 National Instruments reviews submitted anonymously by National Instruments employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if National Instruments is right for you.