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My experience at Qcom

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Qualcomm for less than 1 year
November 20, 2021
2.0
Neutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

The products/solutions that Qcom develops are very impactful to the world in a good way. Big organizations and broad expertise offer a chance to develop tech skills breadth-wise and depth-wise, if you are willing to put in extra effort to follow up with fellow engineers. (BTW, documentation sucks.) San Diego is an awesome place to live.

Cons

As mentioned earlier, documentation at Qcom sucks. You need to approach the right people with the right leverage and be very persistent, or else you can't get things done on time.

Qcom internal tools suck.

If you have counterparts at different geo locations, work-life could be difficult sometimes. While it's advantageous to have a team spread out across multiple locations, it's very important to have proper etiquette here.

The annual review process sucks. I hate matrix organizations. There's a line manager whom you don't work with, but he/she is responsible for the annual review, and there is a functional manager whom you work with on a daily basis. This structure is stupid, primarily used for shifting blame.

Advice to Management

Upper management (VP and above) is very bloated; we need to cut some fat here.

Freshers are taken advantage of in terms of compensation. There's not much competition for core technology jobs in SD by other companies (this is gonna change soon).

Invest into more infrastructure and develop better internal tools.

Many managers lack team etiquette. Teach them how to invest in team success. Examples:

  • Having effective 1:1 meetings
  • Delivering genuine feedback
  • Cutting short unnecessary meetings

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
3.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
4.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
1.0
Senior Management
1.0

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