I have an offer from Qualcomm (not very promising!) and I wanted to ask folks in both companies what they think? Qualcomm offer San Jose: Staff Engineer, 160k base, 75k total RSU (3 years vesting), performance bonus ~10%, 25k sign on bonus My current Cisco TC, San Jose: grade 10, 148k base, 140k unvested RSU (4 year vesting), performance Bonus >15% I have PhD and 4 yoe and I work in systems/firmware modems. I currently have critical role at Cisco and my bonus and incentives have been always big. But there is no learning at cisco compare with huge amount of experience I would earn at Qualcomm. Should I just move forward to QCT and don't look back considering that big reorg and seniors leavings are also happening at EN? QCT HR said there is no room for increase and they can only increase sign on bonus. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :) #cisco #qualcomm #qualcommsalary
They need to make you whole on the unvested RSUs (aside of the current RSU offer). This will likely entail you showing your RSU bank statement. This it's very common and to be expected. Secondly, try to find the be job start date after your Cisco bonus payout.
Can you negotiate the Qualcomm offer anymore? Cisco's not awesome but I, personally, still wouldn't leave for less than 20% increase
Unfortunately no. The only thing that is negotiable is the sign on bonus. this is what HR said. Maybe I was too honest with them and told my exact TC details. Another thing is if you look at levels.fyi, it seems that this is really what staff Engineer gets in Qualcomm.
Does people consider sign on on calculating TC?
You can also use QC offer to get an increase at Cisco. Then join a different team within Cisco.
Very good point! I thought about it. I am quite sure at this moment that directors and my manager at cisco will do their best to make me happy if I ask for counter offer. The question is how much they can afford considering limited budgets? Are they gonna just give me extra RSUs? Is it worth staying and losing having Qualcomm on my resume for few years?
Limited budget is years old excuse. At one of my old jobs my CEO was willing to pay $25k more and manager didn't want that because it would be more than his salary. He kept denying me a raise for 2.5 years. I was naive, fresh out of college. They recently adjusted the salary scales at Cisco. You can easily get 160k in base or more. As far as rsus go. I would tell you to get more in cash. Stock value can fluctuate, nothing beats cash.
There's special budget for such contingencies that managers can dip into without VP approval. So this could definitely be something with pursuing of you're happy at Cisco
Cisco sucks they can fire you when ever they feel like they need to show profits so you are dispensable for Cisco
There thinking about 'the now' and preparing for the future. During my tenure at Cisco, once I stopped learning, I felt was getting complacent. No amount of money would motivate and you find yourself complaining. So I would take a position that would build your worth...even if Qualcomm becomes a stepping stone. It's important to map your future career and seek the experience and skills you need to get there. It's about the bonus / RSU or any other velvet handcuffs. It'll be gone in a minute.
Thanks a lot for advice. This is exactly I was expecting to here ππ sometime we know something but we need to hear it from others to make sure not missing something. For my future career, Qualcomm would be much much better in let's say two years from now.
In the past, I had offers from both companies and in both, I noticed one main similarity: I was the only non-Indian person in the building. Unless you're Indian, just move to a different company.
Haha very interesting point of view π I'm non-Indian. I was assuming everywhere is the same in chip companies. Half Indian and half Asians and I am not in either of groups. Did cisco give you better offer? My understanding is that in general cisco pays more than Qualcomm. I'm not software developer though which makes it slightly different
Are you working on 5G / LTE?
@OP what did you decide finally?
I'm still thinking π most likely I would ask for 15k more sign on and 25k more RSU. I'll tell my boss after i get written offer. I should take the opportunity seriously and move forward. I may delay the process to hopefully get interview with Apple.
What does migration have to do with switching jobs?
I'll have more learning opportunities. also Qualcomm is more prestigious in my field compare with Cisco. So, I thought that in long term, it would be a good decision.
Oh ok. I wish you luck π