most exciting go-nowhere company in the world - Design Engineer II AMD Employee Review

2.0
23 Jun 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You can be in the silicon valley. Salary is probably comparable to similar companies. Benefits packages are probably on par with those of similar companies. Schedules are generally flexible, though if you aren't seen alot you probably won't get promoted very soon.

Cons

Profit sharing and incentive bonuses, and sometimes even raises, are generally based on the company actually being profitable. Since that only happens about 1 in 5 years, you aren't looking at getting much beyond your normal salary. The other 4 years are typically characterized by dilutive or debt increasing fund raising. Certain benefits have been curtailed.. ESPP program is canceled, sabbaticals are gone. They say that it is due to unprofitability but I doubt they will come back even if profitability returned I believe this company would have been taken over by more competent management long ago if it wasn't for the terms of the x86 license which nullify the license upon drastic changes in ownership.

Explore other reviews about AMD

4.0
13 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It's a big company. So, a lot of great benefits and high pay. Also, a lot of opportunity for career advancement and internal transfers if a particular job/team doesn't fit (to avoid losing RSUs). Plus, they're not too hard on you regarding performance since all the performance reviews are qualitative rather than quantitative (that could be both a pro and a con, honestly).

Cons

It's a big company. So, a lot of bureaucracy. They get in the way of themselves requiring endless approvals for spending. Also small organizations within AMD being territorial about their particular domain rather than being as open as possible inhibits rapid progress. Also, pushing for "diversity and inclusion" is racist. They should ignore race, not try to have a representative sampling of the population. I give them a low score there because DEI is racist. But not minimal because it's only something the HR dept cares about, normal employees effectively ignore race from what I can tell. So even if management is woke, the company (the individuals) are not.

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