Salary for new engineer with MS. To be specific- intel

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Rumpltzer

Rumpltzer

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
4,815
33
91
I did a summer at Intel in product development between MS and PhD. It was okay, but people were a little shitty.


The chick I was dating while in grad school took her PhD in ChemE. She was brought into Intel in a group interview, and she got pulled aside late in the day. They made an offer on the spot for a process engineering position. Told her that she'd be tied to a tool (a machine, not a person) and given a pager. If the tool goes down, day, night, or weekend, she'd be expected to come in.

Her answer was something along the lines of, "Hells no!"


I was pulled in for an all-day interview in process development as I was completing my PhD, and I walked out of the interview after lunch. These retards treat each other like shit, and they even had a name for it (I forgot what they called it). Despite walking out of the interview, I got a call two days later to let me know that they wouldn't be offering me a position. :D

Intel will treat you like shit, and you will know well that you're expendable. As long as you know that, and you're willing to accept it, it's all good.

If you can do better elsewhere, then you probably should.


$83K with an MS is not bad, but it doesn't hurt to ask for more. It's not like they're going to retract the offer if you ask for more.
 
K

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
That offer is pathetic and insulting. You should accept nothing less than 200K.
 
moonbogg

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,731
3,440
136
Someone of your stature would be silly to accept anything under $100k. They are playing a game with you. They know that they have no choice but to pay you AT LEAST $100k right off the bat. Also, demand 6 weeks vacation. 6 weeks is the new standard of vacation time for any respectable job these days. You should expect this much at least.
 
T

thegimp03

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2004
7,420
2
81
I think it's OK. Are you going to be working in Santa Clara? I have a friend who started at a company in Sunnyvale in a similar field 8 years ago and his base was about $80k, but the economy is shittier now and I think you should be happy to get a job.

One of the crappy things now is that the cost of renting has gone up a lot in the Bay Area recently...I have plenty of friends who are renters and they all say their rent has gone up between 20-35%.
 
WhoBeDaPlaya

WhoBeDaPlaya

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2000
7,414
402
126
If that's Intel Arizona, you'd have to pay me $200K base and have strippers dancing in the breakroom during lunch for me to consider it.
 
Hugo Drax

Hugo Drax

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2011
5,647
47
91
delon said:
Hello! I am a fresh college graduate with Masters degree in computer engineering. I didn't work after my bachelor and only have one internship experience (3 months) with intel while I was enrolled as a first year masters student. I got an offer recently and the base salary is 83K. The hr told me my total compensation will be about 92K with bonus (i still don't have good idea about their bonuses).

So, I am a bit concerned about my base salary. Considering other companies and also intel should I ask for more? I would really appreciate any inputs in this regard.
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You have barely have any job experience and just a paper tiger at this point.

The smart thing would be to take the job, get experience with real work and interacting with humans on a daily basis.

And if your good you will see more money in your pocket in the future as you learn real life skills while your compensated for it at the same time.
 
C

CountZero

Golden Member
Jul 10, 2001
1,796
36
86
For Bay Area it is about right given the general malaise of the economy. It likely doesn't hurt to ask for 5% more if you feel like it is already a fair offer just to see what they say.

In 2007 people I graduated with with a MSEE were getting 90-100k offers in that area.

Bonus for Intel (unless it changed from when I last talked to them) is basically every job has a category number. That number determines a base percentage. Say you are at the 0.5% base percentage. Then for the bonuses throughout the year (I think there are maybe three, two company based and one personal performance based) the bonus is stated as a multiple of that percentage. In company wide bonuses everyone gets the same multiplier, so if the multiplier was 5 you'd get 2.5% bonus. If you move up to a point with 1% base then you'd get 5% bonus, etc. So higher level management has a higher base percentage. When they made me an offer an HR lady spent like 1.5 hours on the phone running through all this stuff so I'm surprised you haven't heard it.

As for RSUs you'd know if you got them. Basically they would be part of your signing bonus and they only vest over time. For example they might give you 400 shares that vest over four years with every year giving you 100 shares. I don't know about Intel but in general they are also a common bonus item. I always think of them as 'please stick around' bonuses.

Also if this is a start right away offer (as in you have graduated already and aren't working) you'd be a fool to not take it.
 
I

ichy

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2006
6,940
8
81
magomago said:
LOL you are going to get paid 80-90k with basically zero fucking experience and you are concerned that your salary is low?
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This. Unless they're working you 80 hours per week that's a great starting salary.
 
D

delon

Member
Sep 9, 2011
28
0
0
CountZero said:
For Bay Area it is about right given the general malaise of the economy. It likely doesn't hurt to ask for 5% more if you feel like it is already a fair offer just to see what they say.

In 2007 people I graduated with with a MSEE were getting 90-100k offers in that area.

Bonus for Intel (unless it changed from when I last talked to them) is basically every job has a category number. That number determines a base percentage. Say you are at the 0.5% base percentage. Then for the bonuses throughout the year (I think there are maybe three, two company based and one personal performance based) the bonus is stated as a multiple of that percentage. In company wide bonuses everyone gets the same multiplier, so if the multiplier was 5 you'd get 2.5% bonus. If you move up to a point with 1% base then you'd get 5% bonus, etc. So higher level management has a higher base percentage. When they made me an offer an HR lady spent like 1.5 hours on the phone running through all this stuff so I'm surprised you haven't heard it.

As for RSUs you'd know if you got them. Basically they would be part of your signing bonus and they only vest over time. For example they might give you 400 shares that vest over four years with every year giving you 100 shares. I don't know about Intel but in general they are also a common bonus item. I always think of them as 'please stick around' bonuses.

Also if this is a start right away offer (as in you have graduated already and aren't working) you'd be a fool to not take it.
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Thanks for that input. I will be in Oregon. I guess OR is not that expensive like Bay area. Yes, they explained the bonus a bit but was not too thorough. They gave me a conservative amount as I can expect to get at least 8K per year as bonus. I am definitely gonna accept the offer!
 
R

Ricochet

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 1999
6,390
19
81
I'll reiterate "Take the fucking job" mantra. You're going in at 2x what a normal person starts at. After 1 year on the job you'll have a better idea where you should be.

When I started a job out of college I accepted a salary well under the market. When came my annual performance evaluation, my manager wondered why my salary was below the others. Instead of getting a typical 3% raise I got bumped $12k.
 
KeypoX

KeypoX

Diamond Member
Aug 31, 2003
3,655
0
71
I interviewed there too, Az location with my Masters in ChemE. Seemed great but all my firends that got jobs there work a ton of hours.

Tool owners as others eluded too, on call 24/7. Money, benefits are great but I hear people hate it.

Intel had massive layoffs a few years ago, they will come again...
 
S

Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
OP: Intel where? Santa Clara? I'd say it's average, but you can always negotiate for more. Your offer is pretty much like one of the offers I got after my MS.

BTW for all the people yelling at him, seriously STFU. This is average in Silicon Valley. I got an offer for 60k on the east coast. I said no thank you. I got offered more with a BS 4 years ago in San Jose. Maybe you guys live in places with low standards of living compared to the Bay Area, but realize that there are different standards of living and for San Jose this is about right. I'm pretty sure OP could get 90k if he was doing software engineering.

You can ask people to count your MS as engineering experience. I only have 2 years under my belt work experience, but I asked for them to consider my MS as another 2 years. One of the hiring managers said that they *could* consider me for senior level but I felt more comfortable with a level 2 position simply because I didn't have experience in their industry yet.
 
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delon

Member
Sep 9, 2011
28
0
0
DLeRium said:
OP: Intel where? Santa Clara? I'd say it's average, but you can always negotiate for more. Your offer is pretty much like one of the offers I got after my MS.

BTW for all the people yelling at him, seriously STFU. This is average in Silicon Valley. I got an offer for 60k on the east coast. I said no thank you. I got offered more with a BS 4 years ago in San Jose. Maybe you guys live in places with low standards of living compared to the Bay Area, but realize that there are different standards of living and for San Jose this is about right. I'm pretty sure OP could get 90k if he was doing software engineering.

You can ask people to count your MS as engineering experience. I only have 2 years under my belt work experience, but I asked for them to consider my MS as another 2 years. One of the hiring managers said that they *could* consider me for senior level but I felt more comfortable with a level 2 position simply because I didn't have experience in their industry yet.
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Thanks for understanding what I wanted to say! I am doing EE and I know it's an average salary if I compare it with SW people. No, its not in SC. My location will be in Oregon. Does salary vary with location? I guess OR is better than CA while comparing living cost.
 
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