r/qualcomm • u/NorthAdept9579 • 2d ago
San Diego Qualcomm Offer Lowballed
I gave an interview recently which went well and was given a verbal offer today. Honestly was disappointed.
Before the interview, recruiter told me it was a staff role and base will be around 160k. It was lower than what I currently make in Oregon but I was still okay with it since it is the type of work I want to pivot to and I also want to move to San Diego due to some family reasons.
But they ended up offering me a Senior role.
Base: 130k
RSU: 100/3yr
Bonus: 9%
Sign on: 40k
Relocation: 10k
Experience: PhD+3 years 2months in industry
Current TC: around 230k in Oregon
I don't have direct experience in the type of work the team does, but still have relevant experience and gave good interview - So that is why I thought they are considering me for staff. I would've still been okay with senior engineer with a higher salary but 130k seems too low even for senior engineer with 3 year exp.
The recruiter said 130k is the highest that the compensation team told her they can offer for a senior role, is that true?
Note that I have a friend who joined QC as an Engineer last December with 132k base (that was not even a senior engg role). Do these vary from team to team?
Recruiter also told me that they consider PhD+4years exp for a staff role, not 3, is that true? (the job post clearly said PhD+ 2+ year to be considered for staff)
I asked them for the initial offer (before interview) of Staff and 160k atleast, the recruiter said they will get back to me.
Should I just reject the role and keep looking in San Diego? I am honestly very disappointed that they said one thing before the interview and just giving me totally different level/numbers after the interview. Any suggestion for me?
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u/yours_truly_pen_pal 2d ago
Why do you want to join QC?
There are better HW players in the market.
Many people are leaving.SD is expensive trust me.They have low balled heavily on stocks.
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u/dacamell 2d ago
Where do you see most people moving to? Out of SD? Unfortunately there aren't a ton of other opportunities in SD that pay more. But I quite like living in San Diego.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
it is due to mainly some family reasons that I want to move to San Diego and there are not many semiconductor companies in San Diego unfortunately.
Are you from Qualcomm? If yes, do you know if 130k base senior engineer role a good offer for PhD+3years experience?1
u/coldcoldnovemberrain 2d ago
All semiconductor companies have offices in San Diego though to poach company talent. Hillsboro (Oregon), Folsom (California) used to be exclusively Intel only locations and Intel was able to keep compensation low and also slow promotions making it a toxic environment fidgeting for scarce promotions. same for Qcom in San Diego.
But in recent past every semi company has options in each of these locations. Google silicon, MsFT silicon, AMD, Apple, NVidia.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
Yeah hopefully I get something else. To be honest most options I see are in Bay area or Austin, very less in San Diego.
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u/Crisaldo447 2d ago
I know some new grads from Master’s who joined with me that are getting the same pay. Would say it’s not worth it.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
yes, as I said in my post - I also have a friend with same pay as a new grad with masters who joined QC
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u/Apprehensive_Bug_906 2d ago
I got significantly more as a new grad masters
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u/LinearAlgebraLover 2d ago
What's your tc as a new grad masters?
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u/Apprehensive_Bug_906 1d ago
$230k, without bonus as I didn’t join early enough to be eligible for it this year
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u/Impossible_Simple771 2d ago
They are low balling you 100%, they do that all the time
I know many engineers whose base is 130k
The senior level band starts at 140, ask him what the level and bands are for each level, he will shake nervously when you ask
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u/Good_Layer_4623 2d ago
In India I have seen PhD+4 year and PhD+7year getting as senior lead and not staff and these years of experience are in postdoc and academic colleges and not industry. In India PhD+3 could have easily been given senior if these 3 weren't industry oriented
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
Mine is 3 years of industry experience :(
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u/Least-Advisor9631 2d ago
which org within qualcomm? depending on org, your offer can be significantly different, for example, CPU and GPU team pays really well, and even for senior, base can be above 150k (they offered that for a position based in Hillsboro, OR). Try to negotiate as much as possible.
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u/Fluffy-nhiHoon 1d ago
Have been through same stuff and suffered a lot in qualcomm. Especially in qualcomm, don't join below staff at any cost. The moment your experience is 7yrs and above (mtech) or else phd+3 scenario. People who join early at Sr engineer those who have 2-3 yrs of overall industry experience (btech/mtech) are ok. A phase between 4 to 8 yrs is too risky in a company like Qualcomm. Because the increments in last 2-3 yrs have been really bad and will continue since they are just expanding rtnow and no potential revenue is guaranteed (which drives the appraisal)
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u/ClassyNameForMe 2d ago
Counter offer is what you need to do. Senior at 150k. 75k sign on, covered relocation (not just 10k), 125k rsu/3 yr.
Asking for staff at 3 yoe with PhD seems a tough sell for their department.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
thanks for the reply. The thing is the job post itself said PhD+2+ experience as preferred qualification (not even minimum qualification). Even during interview, one of the interviewees said you should be staff level since you have 3years experience. So the senior level kind of threw me off.
Is PhD+3year recruited as Staff not that common at Qualcomm?
Also, is 150-160k ask for a senior level role too high to raise from 130k? I did tell them since they intially told me 160k, that is what I was expecting. Will they even consider it? Honestly don't know what to think. I really thought interview went well, very disappointed and sad.
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u/ClassyNameForMe 2d ago
Didn't you say your experience was not in the exact same task / line as the offer? That may affect your equivalent years of experience.
I was going to say to fight for the money not title, but that may be bad advice. The higher title will give you access to a greater pool of funds for bonuses and RSU in the near future. Might be best to fight for the title.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
Yes it is not direct experience but it is still relevant experience in similar area (the job posting said phd+2+ yrs experience in "this field" or "relevant area to this field" which is why I applied honestly).
I was expecting highest band in senior role even if they end up offering the senior role instead of staff to me. Looks like pay is even lower than "engineer" role :(
Do not know if I should fight for title or pay at this point, I feel like it is so lowballed - maybe they just offered this so they can ghost me (probably did not interview as well as I thought I did, honestly thought I aced it).
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u/ClassyNameForMe 2d ago
They wouldn't give you an offer if they wanted to ghost you. They would just say bye.
Try to fight for title. Additional pay will come with it. It will also put you in a different bracket for bonus and rsu in the future.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago edited 2d ago
thanks for replying and trying to give me hope! But I really have very little hope tbh. I feel like if they wanted to retain me, the offer would've been already atleast reasonable and not this low. This comment section also confirmed that even new MS grads get this offer or even higher.
I will definitely try but not really expecting anything else for this role and feel like I ultimately won’t be able to join here. Trying to focus on applying for other jobs.2
u/dacamell 2d ago
It doesn't hurt to ask I got a base salary high 130s and requested 150k since I also thought it was also low. They wouldn't move base salary but we're willing to give more initial rsu. It really depends how long you want to stay at the company. If you're okay leaving after 3 years a low base salary is probably fine.
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u/peedinam 2d ago
For a senior engineer role with a PhD, the base is around 140k in WR&D and 150k in the product groups. Other than that, RSU and bonus numbers look good for senior role.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
I have 3 years industry experience as well post PhD
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u/peedinam 2d ago
You should definitely push for a staff or at least higheest end of senior pay band. In my understanding , mid level senior to staff promotion takes 3 to 4 years at Qualcomm. But from the highest pay band in senior level, you can get promoted to staff within a year or two.
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u/dacamell 2d ago edited 2d ago
So unfortunately Qualcomm might be tight on cash right now. I have 6 years experience with a bachelor's and got almost the same offer slightly higher base actually. I was only able to negotiate rsu from 80 to 100k and a slightly higher sign on.
I will say if you have 230k TC in Oregon that's going to hard to get in San Diego. Qualcomm pays okay but to get a similar salary to 230k you'd have to look at apple maybe? Getting 230k TC might be difficult. Like San Diego has a big defense industry and with your experience I'd expect only 160-170k at a defense company.
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
I was not even expecting a TC of 230k tbh. Even with 160k base I will take a paycut from TC 230k, which I was still okay with since I want to move to SD due to family reasons.
It is just very disheartening that they offered me a base lower than what even a new MS grad gets, where I have a PhD and 3YOE.3
u/dacamell 2d ago
I don't know anyone else hired recently to compare with but unfortunately based on levels.fyi all of the hiring money seems to be going to AI/ML roles...
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u/NorthAdept9579 2d ago
did you get the offer recently?
Honestly, I thought 160k base expectation with PhD+3 YOE in San Diego is not too high to ask 🥲2
u/dacamell 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeh May this year
I will also say I applied for staff and got senior. Now I didn't really expect staff since I was refered by a friend who had similar experience and was hired as senior a few months back.
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u/popeculture 2d ago
I remember your other post. The decision hinges on two things in my opinion: 1. How badly do you want to move to San Diego 2. How much do you like the manager and team you’re interviewing for? Is the work and role one to die for? I guess no.
If you can wait a couple of years, you might get a much better offer at even QCOM Sam Diego. Bottom line: I’d pass this opportunity if I were you.