Its mainly about the level of self promotion aka networking. The directors used to be expected to well, direct, in a business sense. There are plenty of good director folks but increasingly since 2015 its more about pushing PPTs and reports around while hiding behind email chains.
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Anonymous72282, what's your total comp if 148 is your base? can you break it down?
I, a sr staff make 148K base. Im very very far away from becoming a principal. So I am guessing that a principal makes 170-180K. the mgr addendum would earn an extra 5K I suppose.
slightly off topic...at some point on the food chain, probably used to be Director, but now more like Sr. Dir or VP, the person will be running a division of 100-200 people or maybe more. Basically like a small company within a company. What is proper frequency for all-hands type communication meetings? Current pace I've seen is once every 2-3 years, or once every re-org, whichever comes first. Everybody is just "too busy" for silly things like 60 minute presentation about division wide goals and priorities. Imagine if the CEO of a company said he was too busy for quarterly earnings call!
Technically, Be idiot to become principal engineer and actor to become director.
@72027: The term “whipping boy” sounds abusive and something avoid, but “whipping girl” sounds a bit kinky.
The expectations for Directors and Principals are so high that I don't know if it's even worth the extra money. You basically have no work life balance anymore and you're just a whipping boy/girl. With the way our review process is run, your grade is a toss up most of the time. A comfortable level to be in is staff.
Yeah. Why should they be different?
They are the same exact level
I think Principals are harder to replace because of their technical contributions. Directors are mostly good managers.
Why should there be a difference if the roles are equal?
Keep in mind 300K is for a Principal Eng. / Manager, not a Director
Yes, from looking at that glassdoor website it seems to scale pretty accurately. I was surprised to see how a Principal/Director makes as much as doctors and VP's of smaller companies. That means Sr. Directors make about 40k more in base salary and possibly more in bonus/stock.
So do we agree on 300k total comp?
30% is stock and bonus? If you look at the total rewards calculations, a large portion is for medical. There is no way medical is worth that much, I feel the Total Rewards number is somewhat inflated.
300k is still alot and it's more than what most VP's in other companies make. Congratulations you guys!
@Anonymous70307 The base salary of $180-200k is about right for a principal engineer/Mgr. The rest are bonus and stocks which are very variable but 30% of your base is not unusual.
300k? LOL
That sounds very high. I'm assuming Directors make the same
I an a noob but here is the link to glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Qualcomm-Principal-Engineer-Manager-Salaries-E640_DAO.htm?filter.jobTitleExact=Principal+Engineer%2FManager
180-200k base, up to 300k total comp
How much does a Principal/Mgr make?
there was a time about 10yrs ago...even a senior staff manager was of some value...now even VP doesn't carry any weight....because there are so many of them....each of them working for their own ends....never mind principals and directors.... all these titles are a joke....
Don't believe that for a minute. There are many directors with fewer than 10 roll up reports.
Its based upon the number of reports that you have - I recall that the number is around 25. I.e. if you have >25 people that roll-up into you and there is a business justification for it, you can get a Director title. Less than this (and I might have the number wrong), you'll be a Manager.
Ex-QCOM Director
If they are the same thing, how can director be the next step?
There is no difference. They are the same level. Principal is on a technical path and the Director is on a management path. I am not sure but I think the next step for a Principal is Director of Engineering or r. Director.