Intel

Temporarily a stable job.

Will provide work visa if you need one.

You can get a job if you are completely fresh out of college. In fact, this is precisely what Intel prefers. Intel does not like to hire experienced people and instead prefers to hire inexperienced college grads and pay them the lowest salary the market would allow. This gives Intel the advantage of having young, single, hardworking engineers at very low salaries.

Surprisingly intelligent peers. One of the unfortunate things is that smart engineers graduating from top schools in the country think that Intel is a great company. Intel has a great legacy to talk about. It has a rich legacy and a great history of amazing products and innovation. But that era is long past. Intel is now a middle-aged (it is almost exactly 50 years old now) obese company with a totally crazy CEO. The era of Intel's greatness is over now. Unfortunately, students graduating from universities don't know this. They learn about what amazing things Intel did almost 15 years ago and are awe-struck, and they want to join!

Practically the only major company with a large fab. So if you want a job in the fab, this is one of the companies you could consider. But as such, jobs in the fabs are on a slow decline. Remember, automation is key in everything. And Intel's 10nm, 7nm, and 5nm are not really as far ahead of the competition as they claim. In fact, the thing Intel senior staff has repeatedly ignored is that time to silicon is as important, if not more, as silicon manufacturing readiness.

Intel is a slowly dying company. And jobs there are about as stable as the temperature of water in a kettle that is on a low flame. So when you join, you will not know at all that the company is dying, but it is slowly dying.

Poor salaries. Actually, the "highly paid" Principal Engineers are abysmally paid according to industry standards. Intel HR compares salaries with other companies of "similar nature," but Intel has to grow up and learn that employees do not use that criterion when deciding whether to stay.

Intel does NOT reward additional industry experience or knowledge with appropriate salary difference against fresh graduates. As a result, your salary will NOT be ANY higher than a fresh graduate with zero industry experience, even if you have prior experience in the industry.

Stagnant salaries. In fact, this is the #1 indicator of a slowly dying company. The smartest of their engineers could get a salary increment of less than $2000 additional, year on year. Their best-performing engineers do not get the best salary increments. If you want a good salary increment, you better hope that you are some sort of a manager. Intel rewards ONLY, and ONLY, managers. In fact, the only individual contributors that might be rewarded are Program Managers.

Practically, the only main job growth avenue is to become some sort of a Program Manager or become the supervisor for your team. Yes, Intel does have a technical track for growth. And yes, there are divisions where the tech ladder is a serious job growth avenue. But the VAST MAJORITY of Intel jobs can advance to the next level as ONLY a sort of Program Manager (or someone "driving" something, tracking its schedule) or, at best, as the supervisor in your team – a minor promotion. But remember, you became a manager ONLY because your boss became a second-level manager. And now there may be additional levels between you and the chain of command. In my view, job growth should be measured in terms of your sphere of influence – how wide is the circle of people you influence. What you'll realize is that while you may technically influence a very large number of people, you will probably never get rewarded for that. And even if your managerial sphere of influence is moderately improved, remember that Intel is an ocean of very smart people, all wanting to grow just like you.

Be ready to be unsatisfied with the salary for years. Your manager will keep showing you a carrot of phenomenal job growth out in the future "if you do this one thing." But that doesn't really matter. They've decided to pay you what they plan to. This carrot is only a fake. When it comes time to actually give the increment you deserve, "low budget," "lack of funds," etc., are commonly heard. Intel has the most unscrupulous and the most unfair and dishonest managers of all in the entire industry.

Please be forewarned.

Huh! As if they care what advice you have for them!