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New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

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Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#331

Post by astrange »

wjnc wrote: post #228
UncleOxidant wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been approached by headhunters for contract work at Intel. They want all kinds of machine learning knowledge & experience and the pay is.... $45/hr. I kid you not. I just sort of laugh and tell them that that's about 1/3 of market rate for that kind of thing.

A friend of mine was a professor at a US university in ML and came home to NED to work in medical ML and makes about that. I was amazed he wasn't at FAANG and his simple response was "My wife and I agreed that we would raise our children near their grandparents." There's perhaps more diversity in preferences than we can imagine.

What is NED?

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#332

Post by astrange »

908B64B197 wrote: post #214
lmilcin wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I left Intel years ago to get almost 3x the salary as a software developer at... a bank. At Intel engineers are paid supposedly similar rates at similar levels and similar locations. And given my level (two levels above Senior Developer) I estimate I was paid better than at least 90% engineers. Where I worked in R&D the doors were constantly revolving and many people admitted they wait to register enough of prestigio…

> Intel engineers are paid supposedly similar rates at similar levels and similar locations. Again with this location based compensation trend. Maybe it works for flipping burgers but it seriously break down when you are a global player hiring from a pool of global talent. You can play CoL games and count beans as much as you want, but the engineering talent Intel is after are also pursued by companies like Apple tha…

I've been told by CPU engineers at Apple that they're not paid very well, especially compared to software, but that competitors just pay slightly less.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#333

Post by jmcguckin »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #81
lmilcin wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I left Intel years ago to get almost 3x the salary as a software developer at... a bank. At Intel engineers are paid supposedly similar rates at similar levels and similar locations. And given my level (two levels above Senior Developer) I estimate I was paid better than at least 90% engineers. Where I worked in R&D the doors were constantly revolving and many people admitted they wait to register enough of prestigio…

I've been approached by headhunters for contract work at Intel. They want all kinds of machine learning knowledge & experience and the pay is.... $45/hr. I kid you not. I just sort of laugh and tell them that that's about 1/3 of market rate for that kind of thing.

I worked as a contract employee in Santa Clara about 20 years ago. What do I remember? The corporate infighting and the corporate paranoia (examining the contents of your briefcase and backpacks) and the IT department sniffing your internet use.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#334

Post by astrange »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #252
xedrac wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While not fair to make sweeping generalizations, many of us engineers have had so many bad experiences with MBAs that it's hard to not lump them all together. Their need for control and culture shaping seem to directly harm engineering efforts in almost every case I've seen. I suppose in some ways they will always be at odds with one another.

I would buy that. Speaking of generalizations, can we just all agree that all HR people are bad people and a pox upon this land?

Surely the ones that run your payroll and 401k benefits are okay.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#335

Post by pointyfence »

lmilcin wrote: post #54
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #9

This is an encouraging move. My secondhand understanding was that Intel was losing top talent due to pressure to pay closer to median industry compensation. Top engineers recognized they were underpaid and left the company. I've been part of a similar downhill slide at a smaller company in the billion dollar revenue range. To be blunt, once the [mediocre] MBAs start realizing that the engineers are getting paid more…

I left Intel years ago to get almost 3x the salary as a software developer at... a bank. At Intel engineers are paid supposedly similar rates at similar levels and similar locations. And given my level (two levels above Senior Developer) I estimate I was paid better than at least 90% engineers. Where I worked in R&D the doors were constantly revolving and many people admitted they wait to register enough of prestigio…

"Rehiring retired people to me signals the new CEO has no trust in people that already are there. And that is usually bad news."

That's right. Any time an organization goes with "let's bring back the band," I become a little more skeptical than before. Not just because of what it implies on the quality of the bench, but I'm also wary of this halo effect of the good old days masking what's really needed today instead of living in yesteryear.

Gelsinger seems like a pretty good pick for Intel given how disastrous their last CEO search went, but in the earnings call today, there was a lot of invoking the Old Gods and Intel history. I get why they're doing it, but it's a different competitive landscape and Intel today.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#336

Post by astrange »

fermienrico wrote: post #153
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #9

This is an encouraging move. My secondhand understanding was that Intel was losing top talent due to pressure to pay closer to median industry compensation. Top engineers recognized they were underpaid and left the company. I've been part of a similar downhill slide at a smaller company in the billion dollar revenue range. To be blunt, once the [mediocre] MBAs start realizing that the engineers are getting paid more…

Ex-Intel perspective: There is also a lot of work that needs to be done at Intel which requires mediocre engineers by the thousands. Intel does pay well to their top engineers which climb up in the ranks. The engineer working on CAD, layout, specs, RFQs, Suppliers, Equipment, etc are hardly going to revolutionize anything. Their work is valuable but they’re entirely replaceable. For every top engineer, you need 20 mi…

All of these people can and do make outsize contributions to the company if you let them, because people don't only do their jobs. (They can also do outsize harm if you let them, I suppose.)

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#337

Post by astrange »

cbozeman wrote: post #200
fermienrico wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feels like a distraction from what I was driving at. Whether it’s Intel, AMD, etc. any large company needs a lot of work to be done. You don’t need top engineers for that.

> You don’t need top engineers for that. Top-tier companies have to pay top-tier compensation.

Unethical companies have to pay top-tier compensation. You don't have to pay Google/FB bucks if you don't have sex scandals and employee retaliations in the news every day, or if the students you're recruiting don't think you're brainwashing their grandparents.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#338

Post by dboreham »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #81
lmilcin wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I left Intel years ago to get almost 3x the salary as a software developer at... a bank. At Intel engineers are paid supposedly similar rates at similar levels and similar locations. And given my level (two levels above Senior Developer) I estimate I was paid better than at least 90% engineers. Where I worked in R&D the doors were constantly revolving and many people admitted they wait to register enough of prestigio…

I've been approached by headhunters for contract work at Intel. They want all kinds of machine learning knowledge & experience and the pay is.... $45/hr. I kid you not. I just sort of laugh and tell them that that's about 1/3 of market rate for that kind of thing.

You won't be able to get someone to fix your car for $45/hr.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#339

Post by dboreham »

giantg2 wrote: post #148
staticautomatic wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Headhunters for contract work at one FAANG company offer me $50 an hour for gigs utilizing the same skill set I’ve billed them $500 an hour for in the past.

"I’ve billed them $500 an hour for in the past" !!!...

$500/hr is usually reserved for work done for lawyers ;)

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#340

Post by ivalm »

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #270
mc32 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes recruiters get things wrong, mix things up. That might have been for a different position that got redefined without commensurate pay adjustment. That said, 45 is really low for any position in an engineering company, unless it’s ancillary support services that get farmed out. Something like ‘Lab Admin’ type of thing.

A quick search shows average US software engineer's salary is $92,046 / yr. Divide that by 251 working days and 8 hours to arrive at $45/h.

I am guessing it is very location specific.
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