Hi,
I have a job offer from Qualcomm R&D (San Diego) and Apple (Cupertino).
I was wondering if anyone else has any comment on working Qualcomm R&D? If a crisis happens or Qualcomm makes less money for some reason, do they cut first Qualcomm R&D?
Please provide inside info about Qualcomm R&D work environment, culture career growth.
On any given Sunday Qualcomm corporate R&D has 20 projects ongoing. 19 of them are doomed to fail, obviously, and the 20th is "Next generation cellular standard for 3GPP standardization." If all you want to work on is "Next generation cellular standard for 3GPP standardization" and enjoy the 70-hour weeks (14-hour days) at standards meetings in Europe, go for it. I talked to a VP of Engineering from Qualcomm and he said, "The other 19 projects are designed to SCARE the chipmakers into buying Qualcomm next-generation chips. As a SCARE project, they only have to demo well. Once the demo has SCARED these chipmakers, all your work will be thrown away." I can confirm that this is what they do, having worked there myself.
If you want to sell your soul to devil then work for Apple. Based on what I have gathered Apple is a company of low ethics. They did steal Qualcomms code and gave it to intel and got sued for it. Im not saying Qualcomm has the highest absolute ethics we have had lots of layoffs, but there is a culture of innovation at Qualcomm that exists no where else. They way things work at Apple is that engineering groups are put under so much pressure to come up with solutions and if they cannot then its ok for them to steal it from other companies. Its the choic3 of keeping your dignity or getting rich...
Whatever you choose, please let us know what you learn of the place
Qualcomm is a lost hope. Used to be great. Now terrible. New exec management needed to fix current nightmare. No sign of replacing exec leadership, so nightmare will continue for foreseeable future. More layoffs are coming, and we all know it.
I've never worked at Apple, but 99% of what friends and former co-workers tell me is positive.
Neither company is sitting around waiting for you to show up.
Your success at either company is up to you.
Apple
I worked at Qualcomm 22 years. It WAS a great company, but no longer. They are lost.
Take the Apple job. I know several people, including family members, working there and they are happy.
why ? I do not have any inside info on both companies????? Why it is b—s—? I know morale at Qualcomm is not good, but I know Qualcomm is not so bad place to work. I also know Apple has some reputation. So please share why my question is BS?
The fact you’re asking the question makes me call BS on both offers.