11 years at INTC

I vividly remember my first day at Intel, attending the New Employee Orientation workshop, 11 years ago today. It was my dream to get a job at Intel, and I achieved it within months of coming to the US. I started out as an Intern, at the small Sacramento campus, as a test engineer. I was extremely lucky to find a group which took me in as a family, nurtured my technical skillset, and appreciated the hard work, sincerity n personality that I brought with me as a fresh graduate. I still work with some of these people - we followed each other as we moved groups, and we blend so well as a team. Some have become my family in the US, and take care of me like their daughter. I feel very lucky and blessed to have begun my career with such wonderful individuals.

Since then, I have switched many job profiles, and have moved from the test side of things to being an architect. I landed into my current role by great recommendations and lots of luck....and it's a role which is very tough to get into. I have a very challenging job, as I mostly work on next generation technologies (none of which I can share publicly here), but it is very rewarding as well. Nothing that I work on can be googled - very little of it can be referenced from elsewhere. Inspite of so much experience on my resume, I am still a junior member on the team, with only one new college grad hired recently.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my professional life all these years. I've gotten promotions when I deserved them. When I was single, I worked hard and played hard. I put in long hours of work and sometimes worked weekends, but I traveled quite a bit as well, and always found time for exercise or sports. After getting married, I learnt to balance better. After becoming a mom, I switched to a reduced work-week and at the moment, I feel I have a very good work-life balance going on. Intel has supported me very well during these transitions. I have always managed to take as much time off as needed, and I have also put in extra time when the project demands it.

Intel is also a great place to work for the outstanding benefits it provides to its employees. From an excellent retirement program & Sabbatical every 7 years (which is 8 weeks of paid leave in addition to the 4 weeks off you get each year) to discounts for virtually everything, to amazing programs organized at each site - a top-class gym with 24x7 access, onsite Spa, fun quarterly events (our last one was a cricket game that I organized for my mostly non-Indian team), winter parties, summer carnivals, free tickets to movies and various shows...the list could go on and on. During the recession years, it was not so good. We even had to pay for the disposable water/coffee cup, but things have definitely gotten way better since then.

Intel is also known to have a peculiar work culture. Lots of meetings, lots of documentation, lots of power points - they say it moves slowly. Some of it is true....because we are such a large company. However, in recent years, the focus has been to be nimble and agile. There are many folks who have never worked elsewhere (like me), so people coming from outside of Intel have issues fitting in. I feel its more of their problem than ours, as we have an open door policy w.r.t all issues, and positive changes are welcome if influenced and approached in the right manner.

In recent years, the company has also put a lot of focus on hiring, and retaining diversity candidates - women being one of them. Special incentives are given if a diversity candidate is hired to the referring employee, and women are given much more flexibility and leave options to be able to retain their positions when they go out on maternity leave. A lot more needs to be done, but the progress in recent years has been very encouraging.

Many people ask me, Isn't it boring after so many years? Honestly, I rarely feel that way. It's because we have so many choices to do different things within the same company. It's a matter of making those choices and changes happen. If I were to keep switching companies, I would not get the flexibility I currently have with a flexible reduced schedule, where I feel I am as much of a mommy (maybe more) to my toddler as a valuable asset to Intel. I would also lose the benefits that I have piled upon so far in terms of retirement, stock, paid leave, maternity time-off, etc. Not to mention - each new place comes with its own challenges. Being within the company for so long, and having such a wide network of people that know me (&vice-versa), it is easier to switch groups and roles when the time comes. Getting recommendations for yourself is easy, and getting feedback on the new role and manager/colleagues is also easy.

At this stage of my life, I need the balance and flexibility, more than anything else. And I'm happy that my current company understands and provides that to me. When change is meant to happen, it will!

I'm truly grateful for my professional journey so far....I hope it continues on the same positive path.

Here's to many more successful years in the semiconductor industry!