Intel

Great colleagues and collaboration across Intel.

I made a lot of great connections and even friends working here. Most people are open to teach/train you and correct one another when wrong.

PTO is great and can typically be used whenever. I never had a request denied or even questioned.

Offer letters are BS. They will throw you in whatever team because of “business needs.” The pay and company USED to be good, but have gone downhill tremendously over the last year. I had about two months of training when I started before two senior engineers, one mid-level engineer, and several experienced techs switched teams or left the company altogether.

My team members and I were thrown into a sink-or-swim SEED assignment. We were then responsible for sustaining a fab by doing on-call rotations while learning a new job and being separated from our home and loved ones.

We also started losing benefits, such as flexible work, QPB, free cafeteria food, and raises/promotions. No raises for the last year and a half because of the “macroeconomic environment.” What is our reward for all our pain and suffering? Tons of new hires with sign-on bonuses and higher starting pay than us, that we have to train.

All the stress and BS I was put through led me into a deep depression, which I had to go to therapy for and currently take multiple prescriptions. Thankfully, my SEED contract is coming to an end, and I’ve accepted a new job offer.

If you are coming to Intel, beware. It is not the great place to work it once was. You will be just another number to them to keep the machine going.

The company is trying to be LEAN but really feels more like barebones at times. Really more of a churn factory than a chip factory. Also, if you want to see how different companies or factories pay, just look at the H1B database.

The whole “attract and develop the best talent” is a load of horse s***. Why would anyone stay in a role where they are paid below market value and have to do two to three jobs? I really suggest if a manager has a high turnover rate, then demote them to an individual contributor. I’ve seen numerous GLs and skip levels get a new set of engineers and techs every couple of months. How is that healthy for any company or team? I now see how Intel lost the lead in leading-edge chip manufacturing. Can’t keep teams together longer than two years. It seems like if you’re willing to put up with the BS, play politics, and stay long enough, you will eventually become a GL, and hell, maybe even a senior engineer or department manager.