Thread regarding Qualcomm Inc. layoffs

I have been with Q for a number of years. Many support divisions in Qualcomm are overstaffed & micromanaged. There are 'directors' for groups as small as 5! Because of the need to be seen doing something they are often in the way of business getting done, and push for wasteful spending. Qualcomm can easily cut a quarter of its support staff/managers and it will not affect how business needs are met

Director's pay can vary depending on which department you're in but usually under 200k. It can go north of that if you add in RSU's and sometimes on rare occasions the fall bonus. That seems to be going away. Despite what you are reading on this forum, Director's are under constant pressure. It's not really roses like most make it out to be. They are the whipping boys of the VP and SVP. Don't be an engineer if you want to be rich. Be an engineer if you see it as a hobby and like this sort of work. Engineers are paid well but it's not going to help you retire early. The years of crazy pre-2k stock prices and startups are over.

I see that someone flagged 'directors' as 'haves' and folks below 'director' as 'have nots' - what would be a typical base salary for a director in San Diego? How about 'total comp' - just courious... I am a recent grad, UCSD, engineering, joined in July...

Qualcomm has more managers per employee than most orgs -- directors, snr directors, vps, senior vps, principal x engineering/product management/business. Qualcomm has a rectangular hierarchy than a pyramid. There are about 12000 engineer, snr engineer, staff engineers who do almost 95 % of the work. Majority of the remaining are slave beaters. There are talented individual contributor senior positions though who keep the company afloat by working with the engineers and sponsor the lifestyle of the semi retired multi millionaire slave owners.

They should also get rid of those calendars and annual books of people before laying people off. Those just end up in the recycling bin

I agree being a individual contributor allows you to keep the technical skillset intact. However the only way towards an executive position is through management. The highest you can go on the technical side is Principal and the expectations for that position is extremely high. Managers are typically easy to replace but good engineers especially senior staff and above are the meat and bones of the company in my opinion. Without these guys the company will have very little advantage in this market space, they can no longer lean on the licensing cash cow. From what I hear, the "total compensation package" for senior staff engineers are low compared to other companies. Many engineers coming out of school already starts near 6 figures, it's questionable whether the stress and extra workload is worth it at the higher levels. They might get paid 50%-70% more but their workload is more than double. Arguably it's probably a better life being paid 100k being a lowly engineer and actually have a life outside of work. I usually don't seehigh level employees in the gym, basketball courts, tennis courts, volleyball courts, training classes. All this work life balance amenities are left for the new hires before they put in the real work. Why don't they get rid of all these things instead of laying people off.

You definitely have more options as an individual contributor after getting the ax. However in a bureaucratic company like QCOM, you need to climb the ladder because the gap between the "haves" (dir and above) and the "have nots" is huge; so as a dir you need to milk it while you can and hope you get far enough ahead to not really be concerned about the ax

I'd say that staying on as an individual contributor is likely to be better, unless you have the makings of an exceptional manager. There is always demand for good engineers who know their stuff. I feel that remaining on the technical side gives you far more options than becoming a manager

Your perception that Managers are not impacted is not correct. Managers, and Directors are also impacted this time.