I had posted several months ago about my experiences during the interview process with multiple tech companies. At the time I was working at Intel, but was looking to jump ship as their future prospects weren't looking too hot (see: recent stock prices) and because I didn't feel that I was being competitively compensated given my qualifications (Ph.D. in computer engineering with a couple years industry experience).
I had interviewed with a number of companies (Tesla, Apple, nVidia, etc.), and had offers from a few (AMD, Amazon, Intel branch campus), but still wasn't super-satisfied with the compensation packages. This was all going on during COVID in the USA so timelines were all over the place, but I ended up taking the new position at the Intel branch campus. My salary was actually reduced about 5%, but it meant I could get out of Silicon Valley ($1M+ for a small house and 10% state income tax) and move to the Seattle area (~$400K for a small house and no state income tax), which I felt was better in the long run. Moved up to the area with a childhood friend and started onboarding with the team, when all of a sudden...
A challenger appeared! About a month after I had originally applied, Microsoft finally got back to me and scheduled me for an interview with a team I was very interested in. Went through the whole process and they eventually extended me an offer. Amazingly, it was also much more competitive than any others I had received up until that point (~2x once all was said and done). Love you, MS.
So, long story short, I now work on the core Xbox team at Microsoft!
Haven't been to the office much on account of COVID, but the one time I did go I was very excited and happy to see a life-size bead art installation in the entryway featuring the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (TOS), as well as the actual dioramas used for the Halo 3 "Believe" campaign over a decade ago. Feels like home.
So, stay in school, kids. It really sucks along the way but with a little luck and a lot of work it does eventually pay off.
I will need to be careful about posting going forward, though, as I don't want to accidentally breach NDA and get my ass fired
Also, I probably have fairly biased opinions now
I had interviewed with a number of companies (Tesla, Apple, nVidia, etc.), and had offers from a few (AMD, Amazon, Intel branch campus), but still wasn't super-satisfied with the compensation packages. This was all going on during COVID in the USA so timelines were all over the place, but I ended up taking the new position at the Intel branch campus. My salary was actually reduced about 5%, but it meant I could get out of Silicon Valley ($1M+ for a small house and 10% state income tax) and move to the Seattle area (~$400K for a small house and no state income tax), which I felt was better in the long run. Moved up to the area with a childhood friend and started onboarding with the team, when all of a sudden...
A challenger appeared! About a month after I had originally applied, Microsoft finally got back to me and scheduled me for an interview with a team I was very interested in. Went through the whole process and they eventually extended me an offer. Amazingly, it was also much more competitive than any others I had received up until that point (~2x once all was said and done). Love you, MS.
So, long story short, I now work on the core Xbox team at Microsoft!
Haven't been to the office much on account of COVID, but the one time I did go I was very excited and happy to see a life-size bead art installation in the entryway featuring the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (TOS), as well as the actual dioramas used for the Halo 3 "Believe" campaign over a decade ago. Feels like home.
So, stay in school, kids. It really sucks along the way but with a little luck and a lot of work it does eventually pay off.
I will need to be careful about posting going forward, though, as I don't want to accidentally breach NDA and get my ass fired
Also, I probably have fairly biased opinions now
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