Intel

Think of Intel as a collection of fiefdoms battling for fun and profit. If you get into the right fiefdom, then you have a rewarding experience and a great chance to learn new things that you never would have before. In my 20 years at Intel, I have been grateful for the opportunity to do many interesting things. Especially my last four years have been an amazing experience with a great team - Open Source Technology Center.

Because it is a collection of fiefdoms, your experience in various places might be mixed. If you work in software or a product team, it can be very stressful. Also, things change rapidly; you'll be working on something and then off after 8 months. Everything indicates that this will continue.

With the recent actions, there is an incredible amount of stress as people adjust to the new operating parameters. Right now, it is unknown what a good employee is, and there are some who have decided to leave rather than deal with an unknown system. It would be wise to wait until things have settled down and are more clear on how compensation is going to work.

Intel is still a good place to work, but work conditions are very tough right now. This could be alleviated by hiring more people, but that can't happen until clear expectations on compensation and what it means to be successful are more clear.

Good luck. Right now, until people figure out the focal process, it will be hard to retain good people. The best thing to do is to keep people on task and hire many new people in hopes that the relative newness of these people will spare them from the chopping block.