My current TC is 24 LPA TC(in India) 5 years of experience @Grade 6 in Intel, HW/Firmware team. I am almost through to the end of an online masters in CS (for full background). I currently have a couple of offers in hand: 1. Qualcomm offer: a. Base + Bonus: 32LPA TC b. Joining RSU/stocks: 30k USD stocks c. Target yearly refreshers: 17.5k USD d. Joining Bonus: 10L + retention bonus of 6L after 2 years e. Position - senior engineer 2. VMware offer: a. Base + Bonus: 33LPA TC b. Joining RSU/Stocks: 20k USD stocks c. Target yearly refreshers - not known (Recruiter said there's no target allocation for a grade/level and it's totally upto the manager). d. Joining bonus: 8L. e. Position - MTS-2. Updated VMWare offer: I renegotiated to bump up the VMWare numbers: a. Base + Bonus: 35.6LPA TC b. Joining RSU/Stocks: 41k USD stocks c. Target yearly refreshers - not known d. Joining bonus: 6L. e. Position - MTS-3. Role: Role at VMware will be firmware, slightly different from my current line of work which is on Hardware architecture, while in Qualcomm it's similar to my current role. Pros and Cons: I've heard VMware is a very good place to work with good work life balance while Qualcomm might be harder on the WLB aspect. However with the Broadcom acquisition in play, I'm really unsure of whether VMware is the right place to be at the moment, especially if it's a domain change. It doesn't help that VMware joining RSU is lower, joining bonus is lower, and refreshers doesn't seem guaranteed. The position being offered in VMWare is MTS-2 while I was expecting MTS-3. The domain change might have impacted this decision to offer MTS-2 instead, however I was hoping the 5 years experience + masters (though not complete yet) would help land a MTS-3 position. I'm currently heavily leaning towards the Qualcomm offer, what do you'll think? Is there any strong reason to consider the VMWare offer? Any insights would be appreciated! Update: It would be of immense help to me if you could spend a few mins to drop a comment regarding the reason behind the vote. Thanks for your time!
I say no to VMware, as current employee. Culture depends on team to team. But if you face any issue in WLB or manager. VMware HR policy for that is worst. You will have to adjust with your manager or management decision. HR are puppet here.
I see, thanks for the info. I've heard good feedback in general with respect to the culture. Thanks for clarifying that this infact depends on team to team (like anywhere else for that matter). Perhaps I shouldn't consider the WLB as a big plus for VMware in my decision.
With 5 years experience, MTS-2 in Vmware is a big no. Seen people with 4 yoe at mts-3
Thanks, they are emphasising on the domain change (from HW to SW) as the biggest factor in offering MTS-2. I'm standing my foot to be considered at the level of my experience (5y+masters) and be offered MTS-3 instead. Still awaiting the response.
Firmware work at VMware is quite surprising. Which team or division is that? The biggest advantage I see joining Qualcomm is having options to join other internal firmware teams if you don't want to continue. You can reuse your knowledge.
It's more a software team than firmware. The role is a SDE equivalent. I'll refrain from stating the exact role and team for the sake of anonymity.
Avoid VMware, acquisition is in line. Lots of layoffs news
OP, where did you finally join? Heard QC also has layoffs around currently
VMware is a good company