People are assuming Intel is letting go marginal people, but I will give you the demographics of one person who has just taken the VSP after being strongly urged to do so by managers, etc. BTW, same manager then in a panic wanted this employee to drop everything and rush to Oregon to fix problems on a project. Unconscionable, first telling people to leave and then trying to get them to fix all of Intels problems before they go. First, meritocracy is nothing more than having a high social IQ. The person leaving is a gifted person, but introverted. He has been with Intel 15 years and is a white male. This individual has been able to accomplish many things that most cannot. It will take 3 people to do what he did if they can find anyone who can do the things he could do. I wonder how many people got through college never taking a single note, because they have a photographic memory. That hearing or reading things one time is permanently locked away. Someone said you are not a special snowflake, but many really are. I have never known anyone like the person Intel is shoving out the door. No one could compete academically with this person, but as most highly gifted people he is an introvert. He is humble does not toot his own horn, or brown nose. He just quietly does the job of many people, and he does it in no time at all. I do not think this person is the only highly gifted individual Intel is shoving out the door, and this does not bode well for its future. High social IQ people are bullshiters, they will never be the innovators or creators, and Intel just ensured it will never be innovative enough to navigate the complex future of technology. It's lack of vision with regards to smartphones has already proven this point. One other thing Intel didn't think about is that for all of us who know people they are screwing, who are business owners, family, friends....well I for one will never buy another Intel product. You don't treat people this way and expect to keep their business. Intel just lost 12,000 customers and their friends and families as customers, as well. These terrible decisions being made by Intel Management today are going to haunt them for years to come.
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"I understand from the staff that you are one Hell of an Engineer. They tell me that if anyone has a problem, they can talk to you and you will help them solve it. There's no place for someone like that on my staff. We're a team and no one is special."
Part of my interview when I was laid off in '98.
Many people work outside their 8-5 schedules because they had to meet their colleagues or customers in other nations to do business and still mgmt says it's not enough time that was committed after missing fun activities with the family or reading a book to your young children those idiots that give you lower performance ratings if you say no to those late night work. Double whammy when you get those whiney Israeli teams that will backstab you at all accounts to get their way and then go skip manager you to pretty much give you a CAP in the past which now gets you fired or ISP. That's the type of attitude that I really got ticked off in recent memory as I did my part to part ways this week as I've was there in more than 15 years and just fed up after seeing the negativity of management and their handling of this demise. The names of Fairchild and Intel will share the same grounds of being extinct due to same short sighted managment. As their offspring like ARM will be the pioneers and continue on their accelerated growth in the future if this Krzandwich regime continues.
"The reality we live on a daily basis is beyond absurd and ridiculous, yet we are powerless in the face of the absurdity. Thse dog and pony shows won't change unless we all stand up and say no more. Middle management needs to just GO AWAY! They do nothing but get in the way."
The amount of my life I've spent re-working slides (I'll never call them "foils"?! ever again) at the direction of the next level of management to ensure that they align with the story that their management wants to hear (vs reality or the message that I'm trying to convey) is insane. Success = a well received BS presentation on the wrong thing (for which they can claim credit).
Absurdity is what it is but there doesn't seem to be anyone to call BS on the whole charade. It's a giant Ponzi scheme that is detached from reality. And it's what people have spent decade of their careers doing (with great "success")...
A fish rots from the head down.
I was one of those honest managers who mentored many people and always did what I thought was the right thing - which by definition means no politics. I was fired (VSP: "you should take it") 2 years ago. Honestly, I wish it had happened years earlier as the last 2 years of my life have been such an improvement in every way possible. My advice: if you don't have an exit plan you're not using the skills you developed at Intel. Get your exit plan in place, even if you decide not to pull the trigger right away!
Couldn't agree more with every post in this thread. The reality we live on a daily basis is beyond absurd and ridiculous, yet we are powerless in the face of the absurdity. Thse dog and pony shows won't change unless we all stand up and say no more. Middle management needs to just GO AWAY! They do nothing but get in the way.
"I have known people who were great mentors, highly competent, honest and always available to provide their help and services to their colleagues that Intel has let go. And ironically, chronic liars, twisted personalities, hoarders of information that should be shared within the team and those supremely talented at spinning tall tales have been awarded and get to stay."
That is PRECISELY what has become of Intel culture.
I wonder which types of folks got the SL4s and shown the door...and which ones didn't.
Until leadership punishes (instead of rewards) people for being backstabbing as8holes, then that's what they're gonna get.
I have known people who were great mentors, highly competent, honest and always available to provide their help and services to their colleagues that Intel has let go. And ironically, chronic liars, twisted personalities, hoarders of information that should be shared within the team and those supremely talented at spinning tall tales have been awarded and get to stay.
Liars flourish. Everywhere. Its the reality. Also, if you can get close to your manager and play politics, you will survive
I remember telling the boss I needed more people and the right people for a job. For telling him what he needed I got a level 4 and shown the door. They promptly brought in someone else and gave him people.
I remember having to create these pretty slide presentations for the management above me, and then they were too lazy to present their own concoction so they would ask me to present for them. They would be in the room during "their" presentation and would often not even defend their own comments which I had verbalized for them. If upper mgmt disagreed with the points being proposed, they would follow suit and be on the side of the upper mgmt and ask me to "rework" the proposals.
"Intel turned into a place that if you got visibility in front of senior leadership by putting together 5-6 'pretty' slides, you could do no wrong...of course, those people did no work and were generally incapable of being on a team..."
Precisely. And the content of those slides must prominently include the logo of whatever BS-boondoggle Intel piece-part or feature that the senior leadership is currently pumping, even if it really doesn't fit and there are better / more appropriate options (not from Intel) in the market.
It's a giant Kool-Aid swilling circle jerk.
Intel turned into a place that if you got visibility in front of senior leadership by putting together 5-6 'pretty' slides, you could do no wrong...of course, those people did no work and were generally incapable of being on a team....I left two years ago and was the BEST decision I ever made!
Well, good for him because he's going to go somewhere that fits him way better.
It is so sad to watch Intel crashes. Not because mobile market lost, but bacause its highest mangment are lazy and stupid.
Hi tech company that thinks its people are like product in a factory.
They played with projects and moved them from site to site without a little understanding what expirience means.
Pity. Intel was once a great company.
I will sum this up: Introverted-MidCareer-White-Male with Low Social IQ and Photographic Memory
I am proud to read this post, no racism, no hatred level anger just a testimony about a friend by a friend that was impacted by this totally ridiculous situation. I wish the best of luck to all impacted by this, even those who might really deserve it. We all have loved ones that depend on us to provide for them.
The behavior of Intel is cowardly and as someone who was a senior manager, who simply got sick, I am glad to be gone. I don't know how I would have been able to explain this whole mess to my family or my friends without feeling shame and the need to shower.
Remember the positive and move past the negative. "don't let the bastards grind you down"
Intel is like an army of ants. The loss of 12,000 folks, whether good and valuable or not, will not be but a hiccup and will not cause the fall of the company. There are plenty of good folks and new RCGs in the pipeline for backfill.
Do not think that YOU or the guy next to you will save/sink the company. It really is a numbers game.
End of the day at a large company like this, it's just a job. Satisfy your own personal career goals, enjoy your work and collect your paycheck. Its reality.
This is an excellent example of the profile of person being let go while all the lying, thieving blowhards are staying. Intel is blowing up its own support foundation. Let,'s see what happens to their business.
BK ( for those that don't know that is Brian the CEO ), the MCM ( the senior VPs and ruling royalty ) and all the other VPs and GMs didn't want to do it the hard way. Cut the money losing divisions good and average, and bad all and be done. Instead they do it the lazy way, by the numbers. Some good people, some average and mostly some older/overpaid and people that have maxed out their capability are let go. Forget the fact some or many may be critically skilled and even in some of the most understaffed and overworked organizations.
It is a sign of the lack of leadership, ability to do the hard thing. Imagine BK or other MCM having to interview for a job. Tell me about when you had a really hard decision. Oh yeah I just did the broad cut to get costs in line. THen let the organizations below to sort thru the carnage and thru transfer / hiring it'll all work out, LOL what leadership and vision!
I know a similar person who got ISP because of an ssl4. These cases are even worse than what you described since for ISP, no time was given for handoff of his knowledge. Nice going, Intel.
Given that HR decided on the list of ISPs and VSPs based on some arbitrary stats rather than letting the managers themselves decide on a local level who should be let go, there will no doubt be countless numbers of people who are let go which would make one scratch their heads.
Then he made the right decision. Believe me, if this person is as good as you say there are better opportunities outside of Intel for him. Never fear change. Take risk. If this person follows the very values Intel once promoted, supported, even made us keep on our cubical walls....he will be just fine. Good luck to him.