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New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

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Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#401

Post by thefunnyman »

whymauri wrote: post #367
brandmeyer wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's incredible to me how often recruiters will shoot themselves in the foot when discussing WLB. Would you prefer them to lie to you? At least the recruiter was honest, even if the company's WLB was poor.

Honesty is appreciated. But the reactionary laughter signals a deeper cultural issue than just WLB, IMO. It struck me as off-putting.

I would also find it off-putting. IMO one should feel embarrassed to disclose that the company they recruit employees for makes a habit of burning those employees out and then tossing them for more new hires.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#402

Post by evilos »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #384
stephencanon wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$45/hr is about what I was paid as a grad-student intern at Apple ... 15 years ago.

Tell me if I'm calculating this incorrectly. $45 * 8 (hours a day) * 22 (days a month) * 12 (months) = $95k You were getting paid the equivalent of $95k/year as an intern??

Fun fact you can approximate hourly rate to yearly salary roughly just by multiplying by two. $45/hr roughly 90k ish

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#403

Post by m463 »

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.

If you'd be working for a contract firm and not directly for intel, they often take a huge what-the-market-will-bear percentage. Right now there's a lot of uncertainty in the job market.

Having contracted a lot in the past, the fact that Intel is hiring contractors signals a hiring crisis.

Either nobody wants to work there, or work is ramping up. But a company full of contractors might not be too healthy.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#404

Post by goatinaboat »

astrange wrote: post #334
A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

The old "Personnel Department" did that perfectly well long before HR was a thing.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#405

Post by perfopt »

pointyfence wrote: post #335
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…

"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…

Perhaps the people that are already there are (part of) the reason Intel is where it is. I was at Intel many years ago, quit mainly because the work got boring, the pay stagnant, and competitors offered me more. I was pleasantly surprise to land at a place where internal politics was lower, work more fun, and pay better. I have switched since to yet another great place to work. I will probably never go back to Intel again.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#406

Post by snoshy »

sradman wrote: post #349
hnuser123456 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1439/... pc-centric "client computing group" made 40b revenue last year, over half their 78b total. probably something like 250 million cpus at an average price of $160

> driven by record PC-centric revenue with PC unit volumes up 33 percent YoY led by record notebook sales. I think we need more details on the CCG split between notebooks and desktops. When I chose "Laptop" as the description of my 3rd category I was trying to choose a label that included the Apple M1 but didn't imply PC-Centric which I associate with Windows. I'm fine with Laptop+Desktop or some other permutation; I…

> The Financial Report is an interesting read.

Mind sharing a link if you have one?

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#407

Post by simonh »

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…

They're a sign that things are bad, for sure, but I think they are signs that Intel and the CEO know that and are taking it seriously. By themselves these moves will not save the company, but if they do have a decent chance of healing some of the internal damage. Yes they're bandages and ointment moves, they're not going to win any fights, but when your broken down and bleeding sometimes what you need right now is bandages and ointment.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#408

Post by snoshy »

sradman wrote: post #203
tachyonbeam wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of questioning whether it even makes sense for Intel to try to compete with Nvidia and AMD when it comes to GPUs or deep learning accelerators. They just need to really win in one area in a sense, or at least to have a product with a really compelling price/performance ratio. Though you could argue there's a certain synergy between laptops, desktops and servers (people will generally favor running the same a…

I think Intel SIMD (AVX-512) is still best-of-class for vector math. Run Length Encoded algorithms in column stores like SAP HANA are currently the key use-case (revenue/market wise). What I've learned since the release of Apple M1 is that ISA extensions for Matrix math, as incorporated in Apple's AMX, complement the Vector-centric SIMD ISA and are probably a key battle front for ML/DL. A good Vector/Matrix SIMD-like…

What you're talking about here is the client/inference side, not the server/training side of the ML/DL compute battle. The former is meaningful in a sense, but practically insignificant in relation to the latter. Almost all ML/DL compute GPU, CPU, or otherwise is on the server side of the equation, and if you're relying on vector CPU math for it, well good luck.

Accelerators have a very clear space for themselves on the training side, and no amount of fancy ISA magic is really going to make up for the fact that TPUs and the like beckon. It's where most of the real money is.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#409

Post by snoshy »

tachyonbeam wrote: post #149
1-6 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your list is skewing toward Amazon, but point well taken. If you include Google and Microsoft, they're all chip-designers as well because they can simply license ARM's designs. Imagine if Netflix decided to hire chip designers. All that's left is fabrication and Intel is exiting that.

Netflix runs on AWS, and even if they didn't, I would seriously question their management if they decided to hire chip designers. There's something to be said about being focused and not trying to do everything in-house, or specializing where it makes sense to do so.

Why wouldn't they? Maybe not the best of the best of chip designers, but sure, at least a half decent one. Just so you know what kind of chip would be perfect for the kinds of workloads that you have, without divulging secrets to anyone else, all so that you can find the best value for money out there in the market. Honestly, if you didn't do this, I would probably consider you incompetent.

Re: New Intel CEO rehiring retired CPU architects

#410

Post by 1996 »

devmunchies wrote: post #239
1996 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are funny maybe without intending to be. They all share the same "pointless" features: - lawyers: reason for hiring: the company doesn't get sued for breaking laws (boils down to reducing costs even if you only consider the statutory damages) - accountants: reason for hiring: the company doesn't hide deficits / key employees can't divert money (boils down to reducing costs) - MBAs: reason for hiring: so that exis…

I forgot about HR!!! :) > reducing costs yeah, or risk mitigation. Haven't decided which is truer. > Then again, I'm now a capitalist pig, so feel free to dismiss my concerns Yeah I own a company with ~50-60 employees (call me Mr. Pig). Business owners need to take input from these risk-mitigation roles into consideration but, ultimately, they shouldn't be decision makers. Taking risk is important. Decision makers sh…

> call me Mr. Pig

Hello Mr Pig, nice to meet a fellow pig :)

> yeah, or risk mitigation. Haven't decided which is truer.

Same thing to me. What do you "risk", except not making money? It all boils down to money.

> ultimately, they shouldn't be decision makers. Taking risk is important

Agreed - as long as you can take said risk, because again it all boils down to money. These people help you do that by not spending as much while achieving the same (or better) outcomes.

> It's a balance.

Totally! As for MBAs and the likes, I see them as XOs: I decide on the direction and give the orders. They implement them.

Their perspective is different from mine - which is surprisingly closer to the first line workers, who hold a lot of valuable insights (about optimization, client needs, etc) that may be lost due to the middle layer (of MBAs etc)

But the middle layer has its own role to play, to save money and keep operations smooth and reduce costs (risks) whenever possible.

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