Taro Logo

Used to be great, now random unannounced layoffs

Senior Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Qualcomm for 20 years
February 13, 2019
San Diego, California
4.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Flexible hours

Can work from home when needed

'Unlimited vacation' good if decent tech lead

Covers all health care premiums

Always something interesting to work on

ESPP 15% discount up to 15% of salary

Promotion opportunity up to Senior Staff

Cons

Last 2 rounds of layoffs were not even announced.

Management even denied layoffs days before.

RSUs are now only for top performers (was 6-10%).

Bonuses were 12%+, past 5 years about 6%.

Stock is the same price as 11 years ago.

All internal tools are now horrible because they either fired the teams that made them or fired everyone but one or two people to support the defunct tools.

Any promotion above Senior Staff requires "Business Need".

They usually require 3 years in a position before promotion.

Any slight rating drop in a performance review can push your promotion out a few years. Don't wait, just get a new job and come back for a promotion.

If your tech manager is good, you're fine. If they're horrible, you're screwed. Get a new one immediately.

Check if your team has counterparts in India. Most teams do. If yours does, that means you will have 9 am meetings and much more often meetings/debug sessions between 9 pm and midnight.

Advice to Management

Announce layoffs before they happen.

Stop spending massive amounts of money on new revenue streams and then cutting all funding and teams just before they make a product.

Create a voting and non-voting class of stock so you can give RSUs!

Was this helpful?

Qualcomm Interview Experiences