I've been at GF since late 2011. For those of you with similar time at fab8, you know the early years we went without raises and bonuses. In the intermediate years the raises and bonuses were laughable. And if what I read here is true, GF didn't reward some people this past year in spite of records being smashed and high revenue.
Early on we attributed a lot of the company's problems to being a "startup", growing pains, or the different cultures (Chartered/AMD/early IBM defectors) clashing. Things turned around to some degree, but what has that gotten most of us?
With news about the IPO and how some people were granted equity and others were not, it's just another reminder that I should treat GF as a paycheck. Since that's all I deserve for the effort I've put in the past ~10 years, apparently. I've gotten literally what any other job would offer, +/- benefits and perks.
I'm also surprised at how openly people are discussing their disappointment, and how tired people are. It takes a single follow-up question to "how are you?" and the floodgates open. Only one person I've spoken with has disagreed with this sentiment, and tried to put things into perspective through the lens of the recession in 2008 ("be happy you have a job")??
Serious question for those pro-GF: is there anything (positive) that makes GF an exceptional place to work? Asking before I start looking for a new job. I really don't want to move to Texas or Arizona, but we'll see where my search takes me. Maybe GF's strategy is to not be in an excessively hot red/purple state?