Lots of pressure to perform, not much reward
Lots of pressure to perform, not much reward
Free fruit – get your 5-a-day.
Active sports & social club. So easy to make friends. Staff are generally very friendly.
Very little traffic in Shannon – good for short commutes.
They are good about working from home if needed. But you will be working.
FOCAL (annual review system) ranks you against your team mates. About 5% of people must be given the worst rating, which means no bonuses, even if you're an okay engineer. This is bad for morale, work/life balance, stress levels, and co-operation within teams. Lots of time and effort are spent on high-visibility activities that are not relevant even to Intel.
There's no time for learning and exploring new tech. Some good training courses are given on x86 architecture, but nothing on the highly complex software each engineer ends up having to master basically on their own.
Engineers are not financially rewarded. Project Managers tend to be hired at Grade 7, but Engineers at Grade 6. Only the top 10% of performers, approximately, are even considered for promotion in any year. A typical pay increase without promotion is 2%.
Stop the FOCAL madness. It's not good for staff, and it's not good for Intel either.
Don't be fooled by the better reviews here on Glassdoor – mostly it's interns, and they have not experienced the harder realities at Intel.
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Intel Interview Questions
Intel Interview Experiences
Network Software Engineer
No introduction was provided, and the questions directly focused on C programming and Networking. The questions were difficult. The recruiter also asked questions based on Operating Systems. I would recommend studying data structures and algorithms
Software Engineer (Internship)
The first interview was online. There were many coding questions, as well as questions about software development that I had to record as a video. There was a timer, however, I could record the videos many times and submit the final version.
Graduate Engineer Trainee
Good interview, asking questions from basic to advanced levels. This should be good for reference book preparation. Also, try to answer to the point and be frank with your responses. Good experience overall.
Network Software Engineer
IndiaJanuary 9, 2019No introduction was provided, and the questions directly focused on C programming and Networking. The questions were difficult. The recruiter also asked questions based on Operating Systems. I would recommend studying data structures and algorithms
Software Engineer (Internship)
IrelandJune 1, 2025The first interview was online. There were many coding questions, as well as questions about software development that I had to record as a video. There was a timer, however, I could record the videos many times and submit the final version.
Graduate Engineer Trainee
IrelandApril 25, 2025Good interview, asking questions from basic to advanced levels. This should be good for reference book preparation. Also, try to answer to the point and be frank with your responses. Good experience overall.
