[narag]

I quit a job before even starting. They called me and told me that they had decided to pay me a good chunk less than we had agreed upon. I was in the last days of my two weeks notice for my current job. I had no option. Except that... five minutes later, my current boss made a counter-offer. And ten minutes later it was me who called those charming people to apologize for the inconvenience.

After what they had done, it was a surprise how bad they took it. Very serious threats to my future employability and well being. I really suffered during the whole call, trying not to laugh and keep it professional.

It was also a hardware company. I worked for another hardware company later. Not sure if there are other kind of hardware companies there in the Valley. But for me, there's a clear rule: never work for another hardware company.

[fastball]

Given their behavior, sounds like you dodged a bullet anyway, but this is also a good time to point out if you're job hunting while already employed, you should never give in your notice at current co until you have a signed employment contract from the new one.

[narag]

I had a contract signed.

No idea what happens where you live, but in Spain, a signed job contract is not worth the paper it's written on. They could just fire me the first day (there's always a "test period" during which they can do it no questions asked).

We operate with some good faith assumptions. Actually it's the only time that such a thing happened to me.

[__turbobrew__]

Margins for hardware tend to be thinner than software which typically means less salary, not as nice offices, and more bean counters.

I imagine there are exceptions to this rule (Nvidia).

[narag]

I didn't care about offices, they were nice in the other place that I worked years later. It's the lack of software engineering culture.

They followed the "flag oriented programming" paradigm. The company tanked a few months after I left anyway, so no bad feelings. Edit: I meant the other hardware company. The we-dont-honor-contracts one I guess it's still there making the world a nicer place.