Intel

There are great engineers to work with. The pay is above average, and the benefits are good. There is also a certain amount of notoriety in the industry for someone working in the technology development part of Intel.

You don't really get to decide where they put you. If you are unlucky, you will get stuck with a group or project that is at a major disadvantage compared to other groups and will consequently be a major burden until the next technology node is reached.

There is no work-life balance. Intel owns you 24/7. Vacations are permitted, but not without a penalty before or after you leave.

Management style is very archaic. Feedback from any employee in manufacturing is disregarded because the "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" philosophy prevails among those in upper management.

They pay you 20% more than average, but expect 100% more of your time than other companies (80-120 hrs/week is common).

Fear is only a temporary motivator. It works initially to get people to do what you want, but eventually, people adapt to the discomfort and will usually end up doing only the minimum required to get you off their back.

If you are really interested in increasing productivity, you need a better strategy than just working new employees to ruin and then casting them off or replacing them when they can't take it anymore.

So much time gets wasted by you constantly having to replace or train your engineers.

This system results in three types of engineers:

• Those who are new and don't know anything but are willing to work hard.
• Those who are experienced enough to know how not to work hard and get away with it.
• And those in the middle who are always on the verge of giving up (either quitting or losing their self-respect and becoming like every other senior engineer who does only a minimal job).