I got an offer for an SWE internship at Qualcomm and I am deciding whether to take it. For context, I am an undergraduate CS student who will be graduating next year, so I am making this decision based off on which place I would like to work full time, in the case that I do not receive any better offers next year when I apply to full time positions. I actually already have an internship at another company, Company A, so if I accept Qualcomm’s offer I would have to renege my previous internship. Company A specializes in machine learning and data analytics for defense and government customers. Here are pros and cons of each company: QUALCOMM Pros: - Likely to be higher full time salary. Based on info from this sub and levels.fyi, I can expect 100k+ in the new grad comp. There is not much info about salary for Company A since it is a smaller company, but based on Glassdoor it is probably 80-90K base, no stock since it is not publicly traded. - Bigger name, so it may attract more recruiters when it comes time to apply to full time offers. - The higher full time salary can work to my advantage when it comes to negotiating other full time offers I may receive Cons: - Not particularly interested in the wireless technology industry. A family member advised me to not go to Qualcomm because it is in a mature industry, there is no further innovation, and because there is a lot of foreign competition in the smartphone market. So chances are, if I do end up working here full time, I may want to transfer to another company within 1-2 years in a higher growing industry. Would like some experts in the field to shed more light on where Qualcomm is headed in the future. - Although not set in stone, full time location may be far away from home since a lot of their positions are in San Diego, their HQ. My family lives on the east coast, and I plan to visit them often, maybe once every 2-3 months. - If I accept this offer, I would have to renege my original internship. COMPANY A Pros: - Industry is in ML/AI/data analytics, which has huge potential for growth, and is also applicable to many industries like finance, healthcare, etc. My concern with Qualcomm is that I may be pigeon holed to hardware and working with low level software, whereas ML knowledge can be applied to more industries Cons: - Possibly lower full time salary - It is a no-name small company. I personally do not care about company name brand, but for internships, a big name like Qualcomm may attract more companies when applying to new grad roles. - I got an internship for a machine learning role. Since I do not have a background in ML and I do not plan on pursuing a masters/PhD in ML, if I start off as a ML engineer, I may not be able to advance in the role. I feel like neither of these positions really align with my true interests, which is in entrepreneurship and product management. I was not successful in landing PM internships this year. My ultimate career goal is to start a company, join a high growth startup, or become a PM at a tech company, so I would also like some insight on which position would better allow me to achieve those goals. #qualcomm #softwareengineer #newgrad #internship
Neither of these would help you become a PM at a tech company.
Yeah, I know. I didn't get any of the PM internships I applied to this year, so gotta work with what I got.
Neither is good, but go to Qualcomm for the brand value on resume. Then find your way into Faang pm roles. Company A is worthless on your resume
Also, keep trying to get a job at Faang before your first day of fulltime job. It's a huge head start if ur first job out of college is in a top tech company.