You're still in school, huh? Have you had an on-site interview with Intel? Do you have an offer in hand? I'm guessing affirmative on the first and negative on the latter two.
It doesn't work that way. You don't show up to work for X number of years and then end up at pay grade Y.
You start off in a pay grade that's sort of determined by your education and/or experience. You then kiss the ass of the managers and cut the throats of your peers while trying to dodge blades that are aimed for you. The most technically inept tend to be best at this game. Depending on how skillful you are at this game will determine how long (if ever) it takes you to get to grade Y.
This game is not strictly limited to Intel, but Intel tends to actually promote it as if it were something to be proud of (other places at least try to cover it up).
A friend of mine was brought in on an on-site group interview as a newly PhD'ed ChemE. I think it was a process engineering position in dry etch. Later in the day, she was separated from the group and they offered her a job right then and there. They told her straight-up that she'd be tied to a tool. If that tool were to go down at any time, weekends and nights included, she'd be expected to be there with the tool until it came up again. She declined that offer... right then and there.
I did a summer gig in Aloha with a product engineering group. The first day, they handed me a process bible chained to an enormous slab of orange plastic. They told me that if I tried to copy it in the Xerox, they'd be notified. If I left it unattended and unlocked, I'd be in trouble for that too.
That process bible was one of the best reads of my life.
The summer was all right, but I had gotten a taste of the horrible and I had no intentions of returning. I'd worked at 4 other CMOS fabs during 4 years of undergrad, and I'd been making transistors for two years as a grad student before Intel. Intel didn't suck as much as Motorola, but it sucked for a different reason.
Despite this, when I was about to complete my PhD, one of my former classmates swore up and down that it was great and he wanted me to at least come to an interview. This was for process development; the cool stuff; developing two generations ahead of what they're selling right now kind of stuff.
It still sucked. I walked out of the interview halfway through the day.
Lunch was pretty good; some kind of local bar and grill. I had a burger.
I suggested earlier... maybe don't worry so much about the pay until you actually interview and have an offer in hand.
Or maybe...the more socially inept are unable to play any game.
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