13 Pros and Cons of Working for Intel

Intel Corporation is one of the largest semiconductor chip manufacturers globally.

Although they are a multinational corporation, they maintain headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

While they are known for microprocessors, they also manufacture network interface controllers, flash memory, graphic chips, and motherboard chipsets, to name a few.

Intel’s mission statement says a lot about the organization.

“We engineer solutions for our customers’ greatest challenges with reliable, cloud to edge computing, inspired by Moore’s Law.”

The values statement provides further insight, “Fearless, Inclusion, Customer Obsessed, One Intel, Truth and Transparency, and Quality”.

While this may not tell you everything about the corporation, it does communicate a few things about it.

The company was founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce in 1968.

As pioneers in the field of semiconductors, they helped play a key role in the development of Silicon Valley.

Noyce was key to the development of the microchip.

Also, the company early on developed DRAM and SRAM memory chips.

The rise of personal computers led the company to focus on its microchip business.

Intel, however, continues to change with the times.

From the powerful slogan of ‘Intel Inside’, the company’s leadership is looking toward the future.

While they still strive to have the whole world run on Intel, it is developing new solutions for clients in a changing marketplace.

Realizing that these solutions for clients are based on data, they are working to create accelerators and processors that are designed to maximize the potential of data.

This means advancing connectivity and performance in a data-rich environment.

To power these data-centric workloads, Intel employees work on projects every day to create solutions that meet the needs of their clients.

At times, this means that projects will include innovations in technical architecture while at others it may mean enhancements to memory and security.

Table of Contents

What it is Really Like to Work at Intel
Pros for Working with Intel
Cons for Working with Intel
13 Pros and Cons of Working for Intel – Summary Table
Should You Work for Intel?

What it is Really Like to Work at Intel

Working at any large, multinational corporation comes with benefits and disadvantages.

It may not be for everyone.

That’s okay.

Before pursuing a career in a large company, even a tech company, it’s important to understand the job and more importantly, perhaps, the company culture.

This can let professionals make wiser choices about their career paths before accepting a position and finding out that it’s not appropriate for them.

That’s where this pro and con list can help.

The information here is drawn from comments made by Intel employees about the company and its culture.

Hopefully, it will help when deciding if it is the right company for you.

As with other companies, there is the question of compensation, competitive pay, and health care options.

Other questions include professional growth opportunities, flexible work options, and additional compensation opportunities such as bonuses and stock options.

Even paid time off usually comes up when looking at a potential employer.

This list of pros and cons of working for Intel will clarify some of these questions.

Pros for Working with Intel

1. Job Satisfaction

Most employees who commented said that they enjoyed their jobs even though the roles were tough, and workloads were heavy.

Some commented that because there was more work, they realized better outcomes.

This was because they’re working closely with engineers.

This allowed them to engage with other professionals to experiment and develop positive solutions to difficult problems.

Continually being engaged with other motivated, accomplished, and intelligent professionals seemed to be important to Intel employees.

2. Work Environment

While the work environment can be exciting and challenging, it can also be stressful.

One person noted that when they did get days off, they were often interrupted by work issues.

Over time, this can be difficult for some employees.

However, employees who commented continued to stress that the work was exciting and interesting despite being challenging.

For many people, this is a perfect work environment.

One key takeaway is that the workforce is very diverse with significant employee retention.

Most stay with Intel for at least seven years.

While the pay rate is lower than other tech companies, the average pay is $94,208/year.

3. Training and Professional Development

The company offers employees opportunities to receive additional training.

There are continual opportunities for learning.

This goes beyond simple instruction to include the direct application of the new knowledge and skills employees have acquired.

Many employees say that this allows them to begin seeing new solutions to issues and then put them into effect with other team members.

This helps employees stay current professionally and innovate as needed.

4. Work Flexibility

Many employees also commented on the benefits of workplace flexibility.

They state that it helps keep them engaged in their work and work team.

The result is better products in the end.

Employees also commented that the flexible work solutions reduced the amount of stress that they experienced in the workplace.

5. Company Reputation

Employees reported being proud of working for a company that had a great reputation.

They also remarked that they found working for a top technology leader with a world-known reputation to be something that was satisfying.

Being able to contribute their skills to the field of microelectronics both in development and manufacturing made them feel a part of something larger than themselves.

It was also noted that the way that workflow and teams are organized kept employees at the top of the professional contribution.

6. Benefits

Intel offers attractive benefits packages that make the challenging, sometimes tough workload well worth it.

These benefits range from healthcare and flexibility to stock options and bonuses.

While this may not be the single reason for someone to take a job, they do make positions very attractive and competitive in the tech sector.

Cons for Working with Intel

While many Intel employees said that they loved their jobs and the workplace, there are downsides also to consider or things that they would change.

These are a few of the cons that employees reported when asked about working for Intel.

1. Size of the Company

Some employees reflected that the sheer size of the company inhibited its overall ability to respond quickly to the changing marketplace.

This can make getting things done seem slow and, at times, lethargic.

Also, due to the global growth of the company, there has been some disconnect between the corporate management, internal processes, and key clients.

2. Job Position

Some employees reported that their position in manufacturing felt routine with little room for improvement.

One engineer stated that they felt that “You are just a cog in the machine.”

This makes it difficult to be responsive in a culture that is results-oriented.

3. Corporate Culture

Again, some employees said that the company needed to have greater communication with employees and better transparency.

Many also felt that their work was not appreciated.

Further, because of the size of the company, it is difficult to see the impact that the work is having.

This can be discouraging to employees who want to see that they are making a difference.

4. High Pressure of Work Environment

Stress is the leading complaint from Intel employees.

The work pace adds to stress levels, and it is something that employees need to be aware of.

A flexible work schedule may help with this but doesn’t completely resolve the issue for some employees.

5. Politics and Management

Working in a multinational corporation can lead to some additional stress and frustration for employees.

Working with multiple directors in several geographic areas can mean that there is limited contact time.

This can make it difficult to get clarification on questions in a timely manner.

Holiday times in different parts of the world can also create a lag time in getting decisions made.

This situation can be further complicated by working with teams to find new technology directions and working across multiple departments.

Each step of the process can be slowed down.

6. Lack of Career Growth Opportunities

A number of employees stated that they did not see opportunities for progression in their work.

This may be due to their current position as they have reported that there are training opportunities available.

While other employees said that the culture did not value employee training.

7. Software Issues

Software engineers and developers often feel left out of the planning process or rather that software is a second thought.

This often disrupts schedules and pushes back the time to get the product to market.

This is because the silicon chip’s design and scheduling always take priority over anything else.

Reportedly, this is because software engineers are managed by hardware engineers who may not fully understand the needs from a software standpoint.