I occasionally dial in to Intel-wide webcasts. I hear all these things about managers supporting personal development, publishing, networking, etc. Am I seeing green grass on the other side, or does the fab just not care about this stuff. I really want to become a technical leader, but the opportunities where I am are so limited that I actually set aside time each day to look for other opportunities (internal and external). I feel like I work with people who did good work in grad school and postdocs who are now limited to looking at charts and turning knobs. I guess it’s good that we all get paid more here, but other than that, it’s pretty sad.
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In my area (D1D) you are rush to get to the next level. Everyone learns at different pace. You labeled as stagnant in your training. So you get signed off to make you boss happy, then they turn around and says you are not performing to your Level that they rushed you to get. WTF
They dont test you. You get signed off on your new level. Then they wonder why you do not know this and that. WTF
The average tenure of a freshly hired - non H1B - PhD in the fab used to be 2.5 years. I survived almost 5 but should have left after my 2-3 year ... and that was almost 10 years ago. It's a dead-end street which will teach efficiency but will ruin your life and your work ethics. All the smart guys that I knew escaped the fab, only brown-nosed and "stuck for a Green card" indians stayed for good.. Learn the manufacturing process, learn the industrial statistics (which is better than any Black Belt 5 sigmas gimmicks) and move on.
Welcome to the club, sorry it's quite depressing and disappointing.
Every manager at Intel is "trained" to be political. In fact, the most political if these are the ones that actually succeed in getting raises and promotions. They know how to milk the system and don't give a d*!? about their employees. If they need to sacrifice an employee to look good to their peers, they will. No problem, but you will never know through all the lies.
Listen this former Intel principal engineer (left 2017) said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiKjzeLco6c
Fab and Fab RD used to be glorious jobs on the winning team, but due incompetence of the senior leadership over the past 10 years Intel is a joke and laughing stock.
Yup you are screwed, you are paid just enough, work like crazy and miss managing. To be sure Bean counter Bob is looking to sell you sorry lot, FUBAR
It's not the fab it's the whole darn company. They only pretend to care about your career, it's one big dead end
Focus on your external job search; forget the internal. Building a career at Intel now is like building a career at Sun in 2005. The market is beginning to turn away from Intel and that will only accelerate. Widen your view from "we all get paid more here" as that is a very fleeting meaure that will trap you in a suboptimal career space where you will get less total pay over time because there will never be room for advancement. (Intel future: "Congratulations on your Sr. knob turning role"...)