Vantaggi
For mechanical and electrical engineers, pay is 2x to 3X what any non tech company pays. And an engineer is less accountable because the hardware teams expect to fail. Benefits are premium. Best 401k match on the planet. Health benefit of $3,000 to spend on bikes, hiking and fitness gear etc. Beer kegs exist in most project rooms. And there’s no need to advance your skills beyond what you learned in college. They run their hardware orgs like college design projects not like commercial product development companies.
Svantaggi
Because top pay and frequent failure go hand in hand, the orgs are political. Many directors, general managers and some of the VPs are more motivated to protect their status and compensation instead of trying to improve the organization. And so the hardware groups fail and lose money. The worst is the politics that arise due to leaders protecting themselves. And folks deep down know they are less deserving of accolades and higher pay and bonuses than their peers in other industries. So while they post how amazing hogging out space for a motherboard on an aluminum brick is, they avoid mirrors that will reveal the truth. They are locusts. And finally, internally it was admitted that the company wants to get rid of all white men over 45. As a hiring manager I took a class in which the instructor stated that. And recruiters also told me that they were not allowed to present resumes to me of anyone over 50.