How to Land a Job at Intel

Intel’s microprocessor business has been putting the silicon in Silicon Valley for over 50 years. Many engineers and computer scientists seek jobs at Intel to build on the company’s legacy achievements in client computing. But an Intel career can also satisfy your curiosity for cloud computing and the Internet of Things, two areas where Intel continues to grow.

If you can imagine yourself working at Intel, we’re here to mold your ambition into a more definite shape. Let’s explore what it really means to have a job at Intel in 2021, and then figure out what it will take to get you there. 

Intel: Company Background

Intel got its start in 1968 with semiconductors and a dream. By that point, co-founders Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore had already made names for themselves as engineers and scientists, and they were looking for ways to capitalize on Noyce’s recent invention of the integrated circuit. Their business became Integrated Electronics, or Intel for short.

In the early years, Intel mainly used this new technology for memory chips, but the development of the personal computer spurred further innovations in microprocessors. Intel CPUs continue to power large numbers of desktops and laptops to this day, with sales to HP, Dell, and Lenovo still accounting for about 40 percent of company revenue. 

Recent investments in artificial intelligence and system-on-a-chip technology have brought the business more in line with the digital transformation, ensuring that Intel holds a leading position in the race for smarter, faster, and more connected computing. 

What’s It Like to Work at Intel?

Due to the runaway success of the Intel Inside marketing campaign, almost everyone has heard of Intel, and most people believe they know what Intel is all about. 

But such advertisements leave the question of company culture a bit more opaque. How does the work environment look and feel to someone working on the inside of Intel? While it is hard to generalize about a company that employs more than 100,000 people and operates in 46 countries, three aspects of the culture stand out. 

Large Corporation Perks, Small Company Vibes 

Intel employees enjoy the best of both worlds. On the one hand, their careers receive a measure of stability from their association with the prestigious Intel brand, as well as from the opportunities they have to network with top industry talent. They also get the kind of generous benefits package that only a huge company can offer.

On the other hand, each department within the company remains small enough to foster individual growth and creative collaboration in a specific team-building context. Even though Intel is massive, everybody gets to contribute to a unique group of peers, and nobody gets lost in the shuffle. 

Risk-Taking Mentality

To stay ahead of the curve, Intel refuses to rest on its laurels. Whereas some companies in Intel’s position might be tempted to play it safe, Intel has consistently erred on the side of being aggressive, even at the expense of negative publicity. That aggressive mindset filters down to the employees, who are encouraged to share bold ideas with their bosses.

Openness and Transparency

Intel makes sure that the right hand always knows what the left is doing, and that everyone is on board with big changes and new directions. Their annual corporate responsibility report achieves the goal of transparency on a macro scale. At a micro level, meanwhile, taking these values to heart manifests in a greater commitment to inclusivity and equity.

Getting a Job at Intel

As is the case with most large companies, Intel’s hiring process is rigorous but predictable. Should you ever decide to start an application, here’s what you need to know. 

How Hard Is It to Land a Job at Intel?

Every position at Intel, from the lowliest intern to the most senior engineer, is highly competitive. Almost all tech positions require at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering or hard science discipline, in addition to some prior industry experience. 

That being said, they accept applications on a rolling basis for a large number of entry-level positions, so you’ll have plenty of chances. And never underestimate the benefits of a software engineering internship at Intel. If you have good grades, the right coursework, and a strong cover letter, you can work for Intel before you graduate.

Applying for a Job at Intel

Intel recruiters advise applicants only to compete for jobs that match their skill sets. It may seem counterintuitive, but applying for everything under the sun will not help your cause. Find the one position for which you think you would be a great fit, and then make Intel take notice by writing an awesome resume and cover letter. 

Intel Application and Interview Process

Once your application is in shape, the actual process of applying and interviewing is fairly straightforward.

To apply, go to the Intel website and create a profile. The system will prompt you to specify which position you’re applying for, to attach your documents, and, in some cases, to answer screening questions.

Applicants who advance to the interview stage will take an online aptitude test consisting of quantitative, logical, and verbal reasoning questions. Intel will invite candidates who pass the test for in-person interviews, where they will quiz you on your technical knowledge and conduct a behavioral assessment to determine your fit on the team you wish to join. 

You should arrive at the interview in formal attire, and send a note of thanks to your interviewers after you leave. The time it takes for Intel to reach a decision varies, but they will contact you whether or not they offer you the job. 

Intel Career Opportunities: Job Titles and Descriptions

Intel is an enormous multinational corporation. At any given moment, Intel has job ads out for hundreds, if not thousands, of positions in the United States alone. Since it would be impossible to profile every role, and cumbersome to explore every career track, let’s instead look at a representative sample of the tech opportunities within Intel.

System-on-Chip (SoC) Design Engineer

• Salary: $83,000 – $119,000
• Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k) matching, PTO/vacation, maternity and paternity leave, sabbaticals every four years
• Target applicant: Experienced hire 

• Minimum Education Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Science 
• Minimum Experience Qualifications: 4 years on back-end design, integration, and microprocessor verification

The SoC career track represents a relatively new part of Intel’s business, corresponding to the processors it designs and manufactures for smartphones and tablets. Specifically, Intel is constantly looking for electrical engineers with a design background to work on the pre-silicon phase of development for the next generation of 5G-compatible devices.

This is exciting stuff, but you’ll need to build up some experience in the industry before Intel will be willing to hand you the reins to co-founder Gordon Moore’s vision for integrated circuit innovation. 

System Validation Engineer

• Salary: $91,000 – $140,000
• Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k) matching, PTO/vacation, maternity and paternity leave, sabbaticals every four years
• Target applicant: Experienced hire 

• Minimum Education Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Science 
• Minimum Experience Qualifications: 4 years in the industry

The work that validation engineers do keeps the design engineers honest. They’re the ones who ensure that the final product optimizes, from the perspective of the end-user, the value of the design team’s original vision. This means running diagnostics, catching flaws, removing bugs, and implementing fixes to whichever product they’re tasked with validating. 

Since hands-on experience is so crucial to doing the job well, it should come as no surprise that Intel tends to pick its validation engineers out of a pool of experienced applicants. Several departments at Intel hire validation engineers, including both hardware teams and software teams. 

Manufacturing Process Engineer

• Salary: $92,000 – $136,000
• Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k) matching, PTO/vacation, maternity and paternity leave
• Target applicant: Entry-level 

• Minimum Education Qualifications: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in an engineering or hard science discipline 
• Minimum Experience Qualifications: 3 months on relevant process, design, and data analysis functions

One of the most common positions at the company, process engineers do the necessary work of turning raw silicon into the semiconductor substrate at the bottom of every piece of microtechnology that Intel produces. These ultrathin slices of silicon, called wafers, must go through an intricate manufacturing process before they can be transformed into microchips.

Many of these jobs are in Oregon, where Intel recently increased its capacity for wafer fabrication. The manufacturing process is a well-oiled machine, improved and refined over several decades. With technical smarts and a relevant degree, you can land an entry-level job as one of Intel’s process engineers right out of college. 

Deep Learning Data Scientist

• Salary: $80,000 – $128,000
• Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k) matching, PTO/vacation, maternity and paternity leave
• Target applicant: Entry-level

• Minimum Education Qualifications: PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field 
• Minimum Experience Qualifications: 3 years researching deep learning and developing models

Intel’s data scientists are, to borrow a phrase, the real brains of the operation. They work at the cutting edge of the company’s artificial intelligence stack, researching how to apply knowledge of machine learning toward the next wave of innovations in processor architecture. 

"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"

Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot

Find Your Bootcamp Match

Data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are all different things, of course, and Intel needs researchers who can parse the fine distinctions among them. In practice, that means you should have a PhD and know your way around big data before applying for this job. 

Software Development Engineering Intern 

• Salary: Approx. $6,000 per month
• Benefits: Networking, access to training, consideration for future employment 
• Target applicant: College student

• Minimum Education Qualifications: Must be currently a pursuing bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related discipline 
• Minimum Experience Qualifications: fluency in C and/or C++, Python, and basic understanding of data structures and relational databases

We’d be remiss if we didn’t give a nod to the internship program. Whether you’re training to become a software engineer or a developer, a software internship at Intel could be your ticket to a successful career. Besides being high-paying, it’s a great way to network with experienced professionals while collaborating on the software development life cycle.

Just don’t expect to be handed one of these gigs. They are understandably competitive, so you should do your best to meet the preferred qualifications of whichever internship you’re applying for. Once you get that first foot through the door, there’s a good chance that Intel will pull the other foot across the threshold. 

What Does It Take to Get a Job at Intel?

To work at Intel in 2021, all you need is a college education in a relevant discipline, the right set of engineering skills or data science skills, the ability to ace your technical interview, a willingness to work in any of the locations where Intel does business, and a bit of good luck. Easy, right?

The fact of the matter is that Intel hires qualified individuals every day, and their workforce is growing at a steady rate. Intel may be an old company, but their new tricks require skilled labor of all kinds. If you set your mind to it, you too may one day find yourself inside Intel.