Offer evaluation: Intel Device Engineer
Posting from my friend's account: I am a Ph.D. student graduating in 2023 June. I was offered an Intel offer. Location: Hillsboro, OR Division: LTD job title: Device Enginner Level: L7 Base: $142k Cash bonus : $50k over 3 year (instead of RSU) Sign-on Bonus: $10k I have two other offers: Western digital WD (San Jose, CA) global foundry GF (Malta, NY). I am currently interviewing for texas instruments (Dallas)and maxim integrated (San Jose). I also have two years of work ex. Intel manager seems like a serious person. WD seems like a poor company and scared that can not match intel. same as GF. However, both Texas and maxim managers are very nice and very keen on hiring me. Any suggestion on how to negotiate for intel offer and if there are any scope to increase. And whether Intel or other (texas or maxim ) would be better choice considering Intel is in bad situation financially and technical as compared to Taiwan Semiconductor. #hardware #semiconductor
Why does the Intel manager seem like a bad person?
Maybe you're getting paid more than the manager which is freaking them out. Good luck.
Avoid WD at all cost
I have had exposure to both Intel and TI in the past. As a device engineer, you’ll have a better chance in developing your career at TI. You wont become a hardcore device engineer at intel and the technology you’d be working on would be very limited in scale. TI on the other hand would allow you to be exposed to a much wider range of technical aspects - especially if you work in the ATD team. Maxim (ADI) is also a good choice, but TI has the superior tech when compared to ADI. I’d say stay clear of WD - memory business is not a good choice from Device Engineering prospective - very short life cycle (1 - 1.5 yrs) and constant pressure from Market. Since this is your first job, you should focus on what the role exposes you to instead of TC. Technology Development is a very technical domain and you should focus on learning as much as possible. Your TC will drastically improve if you can increase your expertise. And I forgot to mention, you’ll get depressed in Portland. Texas is a much much better place to live.
Thank you very much for the insights. I have a follow-up. I was told that intel is working on multiple nodes simultaneously to catch-up with TSMC. So don't you think it would be a good learning experience at intel since they want to beat TSMC?
Sure, but the catch is that as a device engineer at intel all you do is to maintain DRC and layout test structures and plot data. You wont get to work on any fancy part of it. You wont even run TCAD or do any electrical characterization. These are crucial to build your core device knowledge. They keep calling it ADVANCE NODES, but really what is advance about it is on the process side of things. There are technicians at TI who does what a device engineer do at Intel. Although, it being a big org, there are always those teams who does fancy stuff. Look for how many patents the team members have been granted in recent years, that should tell you a lot.
Your tc offer from intel is ~200k. I am wondering what TI will offer. In general, fab or atd sides are much better than the rest of TI BUs - working environments. But I am not sure about TC though.
I am not sure why you say TC is 200k. it is 141.8+(50k/3)+(15k/3)~$163k TC
Take into account that Texas doesnt have state tax while there is a 9%ish state tax at Oregon. There goes 20K. Intels PTO is also a hoax. Cost of living is higher in portland than DFW.
Maxim is a very great place to start your career
Would the compensation be competitive in San Jose as compared to Hillsboro, OR?
Hi Could you please explain a bit more? why it is a great place to start and better than others