I’m not one of those “Go Intel” people. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of the people on this forum seem angry that their “Good ‘ol boy” culture is being challenged. Does Intel really need these people? Intel has plenty of cultural and technical problems, but people who secretly look down on a significant portion of the company that does not fall into this “American Pie” clique will not foster the collaboration we need to improve things. There are plenty of people who do not hold these views that can perform just as well if not better in the job. If you think you’re better than people, of course you’re going to have confirmation bias and see every struggle someone has as evidence for your view point while dismissing every success they have as a fluke.
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The recent poster is right about one thing — “ Intel is a brutal company that lays people off all the time“. Very, very true. And if business conditions call for it again (as they seem to be doing), it’ll happen again.
Having said that, the 2016 reduction in force disproportionately targeted the white/male/50+ cohort. That’s the definition of racism if race was the reason for the action. The situation is made worse when managers in the same cohort get protected. But it also raises a question — if it was heartfelt (albeit racist) SJW thinking behind ACT, we would have seen the managerial ranks equally decimated. But they weren’t. Moreover, you would expect the new Intel SJW mindset would have resulted in an observable increase in black and Hispanic engineers. It didn’t. The increase was in females from lower cost countries HR was already hiring from, some of whom surely were good candidates but as recent immigrants weren’t historical victims of discrimination in the USA. Could it be that the SJW angle was a ruse, designed to (1) curry favor with SJW-insane (but increasingly wealthy) millenials, (2) get rid of expensive engineers (who happened to be old and white), and (3) spare management the axe (even though they are more expensive and more white)?
Something to think about!
Sometimes I wish people were more blatant and proud of opinions like these so I could know from the get go not to trust them. People are literally using anecdotes to confirm the viewpoints they were likely raised with. Making blanket statements about racial groups, even when plated with caring for the company and purported unfairness, is racism. I am sorry some of you had bad experiences with Intel in the past, but don’t use minorities and social justice as scape goats. Intel is a brutal company that lays people off all the time; I don’t think any social justice initiatives will change that.
BK sacrificed company performance for the sake of diversity.
As an ex employee who served long at Intel, Intel has become a depreciating asset for most rank and file employees who worked hard to build the company. During the 90s, everyone wanted to work at Intel. Yes, the meteoric stock rise was boosting the morale, but that was not the only reason. People had a closer connection with their managers, people were high on the prospect of building the world's chips and everyone wanted to come to office impulsively. That morale, energy and camaraderie is no longer there. If any one looks at the parking lots these days, eveyone clocks in at 9am and clocks out before 5pm. Managers have transformed into task masters and slave drivers, with nothing to offer by way of a career rise no role modeling - for people who are locked into a technology company that has no parallel in the US, or perhaps anywhere in the world. I have not met any one IC who does not complain about one's manager at Intel.
The upper management, OTOH, kept on rewarding itself with promotions and some 50 new VP appointments every year - in good times, average times and bad times - some of whom hardly manage organizations smaller than 20 people. Notice anytime the company earns better profit than expected, there will be a slew of VP promotions for those in the upper echelons, while the rank and file are given an average 1.5% raise. The company that once used to pride in meritocracy now parodies itself as the paragon of "hire for DNA".
Intel is in a slow fall. I will give another 15 years before it will dissolve itself like Motorola did - under very similar corporate philosophical directions. Everything else matters over trust, merit and work. Perhaps Intel, like other old guard companies, will have a big role to play in the world economy. It will continue to churn chips on a global scale. But, only as shadow of its former self before 2005.
Post ID: @gth+1669gEWq: I couldn't agree more with your comments. I am not an Intel employee, I am retired Xerox. I can identify with your sentiments 100%. The exact thing happened at Xerox and ruined a once great company. Xerox became more concerned with social issues than it was with running a successful operation. Ursula Burns put the final nail in the Xerox coffin before she was forced out by the Icahn takeover. She was groomed all the way along to CEO not based on who she was but rather what she was. I always said that Xerox was a failed social experiment. Sorry to see the same being played out at Intel.
WOW such a great and true statement Post ID: @gth+1669gEWq.
Being a evil white MAGA male working at Intel for the last 15years I have always loved working with and learning from so many different people.
To see SOME the hiring and firing that has happened over the last few years has been so frustrating.
Trying to implement plans of the Chief Diversity Officer and navigating around the presentations in the halls on every s-x and non s-x entity that has ever existed has been looked at like a complete experimental JOKE. When we hire RCGs like drunken sailors to fill diversity goals and not being a qualified contributor as being a priority, this is what we get.
Lets get back to work, fix ourselves and quit worrying about what is beneath someone’s dress/zipper or what race they identify as!
The situation is more complex than you describe. Many of the IC engineers that retired, were terminated, or prodded out in 2015/16 were of one cohort (male, white, 50+). Most of these individuals help built the company, but economics and “social justice” provided pressure to push them out the door. Compare that to middle and upper management, a group that had even a higher proportion of the male/white/50+ cohort. Yet despite this and the fact that they had no specialized skills, their jobs were not subject to the same things that IC jobs were (offshoring, insourcing of H1Bs, etc.). Their jobs stayed in the USA, and unless they chose to leave (with a golden parachute) they are still there. That’s why you see a lot of resentment on this site.
A thorough housecleaning of this middle and upper management “old boy network” might be a good thing, but it may be too late. The 2015/16 actions against ICs have already taken a toll — just look at today’s 15% stock price drop and Intel’s continued fumbling with 7 nm as exhibits A and B.
Yes, this is a serious problem in the management ranks. Not so much for the individual contributors.
There are a lot of pro Americans and MAGA supporters at Intel many of who are not open to avoid persecution. Perhaps its not a “American Pie” thing but a pro US employee with a US based company concerned about jobs sourced from the least expensive geographic region rather than talent based.
really?
Seen the news this morning? All the reorgs, hiring of RCGs and laying off all the experience has paid off, hasn’t it?
Intel is like a patient with terminal cancer that still has no idea about anything. The company is still worth something, but it is too late to turn the ship around. There will never be so much profit in server processors like Intel had for the last decade.
I think it’s a bit more complicated than what you choose to see:
Many good engineers were forced or prodded to exit in 2015/2016. That cohort fit a particular demographic (male, white, 50+)
A lot of the middle management stayed, knowing their paycheck was pretty good. Despite having a greater percentage in that same cohort, these individuals weren’t forced out.
Many senior leaders left on their own. But like the middle managers, a rare few were forced out
The frustration you sense from some in this forum stems from the disparate treatment of ICs vs management. IC jobs were subjected to a variety of actions (offshoring, insourcing H1B resources, etc.) while management jobs — which don’t require a lot of specialized knowledge and could literally be done anywhere — somehow had to be safeguarded in the U.S. People see this and understandably get frustrated. The evolution of Intel into a social justice-friendly company raises even more questions given the above. It suggests that middle-and-higher managers are immune to SJW-driven hiring/firing pressures while ICs are not.
A good housecleaning within management might be in order, but given the 2015/2016 exodus of IC talent a “new person’s network” to replace the “old boy network” will still have an uphill battle. You only have to look at the 7 NM stumbles and the stock price drop to understand that!
Anyone that has been at Intel for more than 10 years understands what has happened to the company. The problems the company has today can be traced back to the diversity hiring objectives. When people were hired based on their race or s-x as the primary consideration instead of hiring the best person available, the impact was far reaching in a negative way. The culture of success and belief that we could accomplish anything evaporated. This isn't meant to be a racist or s-xist statement (I am a Hispanic female), just that the primary criteria for hiring someone changed and the company's success has suffered since. Intel now feels more like a forced social experiment than anything else. The primary focus of delivering world class products changed to focusing on the diversity of workforce. We are now reaping what we sowed with that change.
I agree with you, it's time for the good old boys, who have failed at delivering for years, to leave. Problem is that represents a majority in many if not all orgs I have witnessed.