But it's a little more nuanced than pay for two reasons.
1) Intel is a little like proto-Amazon. There is a preference for hiring people directly out of grad school and inducting them into the cult while they are still naive, so that's just what they come to expect for work-life balance.
2) The whole semiconductor industry is like this, and particularly so for production fabs. If you have domain expertise, you have no alternative work-life balance choice short of a career change.
> There is a preference for hiring people directly out of grad school and inducting them into the cult while they are still naive, so that's just what they come to expect for work-life balance.
Heh. I once interviewed for an internal SW position that dealt with fab automation. I openly told them in the interview that I knew about their work culture and that was of great concern to me.
Interviewer: I know what you mean, and I promise the org has been working to improve the conditions. It's not as bad as it was.
Me: Great! However, for me the comparison isn't the "old you" but the rest of Intel.
<Back and forth>
Interviewer: Look, you're not going to get a 40 hour/week job anywhere in the SW industry!
Me: Umm... All my SW engineer roles at Intel were 40 hour/week jobs. I haven't worked on weekends in years. <Proceed to list friends at big name SW companies who also don't work more than 40 hours/week>
Interviewer: OK. We normally interview people straight out of college who don't know any better.
But it's a little more nuanced than pay for two reasons.
1) Intel is a little like proto-Amazon. There is a preference for hiring people directly out of grad school and inducting them into the cult while they are still naive, so that's just what they come to expect for work-life balance.
2) The whole semiconductor industry is like this, and particularly so for production fabs. If you have domain expertise, you have no alternative work-life balance choice short of a career change.