Tech is BACK!….Housing downfall might be limited in San Diego afterall.

[4plexowner]

Any other engineers care to chime in about stock options?

Is your company still granting them? Has the volume of options being granted changed?

Have your co-worker’s attitude about the company’s compensation plan changed? (my co-workers are feeling pretty well f’d over these days – management is receiving stock and options as bonuses and the line-level troops are lucky to get a 3% raise each year)

The original poster of this thread is saying that options being granted to engineers are a significant source of income here in San Diego – I don’t see that and I’m curious if anyone else does

[anxvariety]

Aren’t many engineers contractors anyway? I know in software it’s more and more that way…

I always thought of options as more of an incentive to account for the risk in a new company, more so than a standard reward for working at a big one.. I don’t foresee many front-line workers getting much of the pie, this seems like more of an executive thing once the company is established..

[forsale_2007]

(No i don’t work there anymore).
Peon engineers back in the mid 90ies started in the $40k/$50k range, and granted roughtly 1600-2000k options. Split adjusted since then that would be about 16:1.

But the latest batches of hires at tech companies are more patent layers instead of just pure geeks (they had a a tech background). I’ve also “heard” Broadcom in Rancho Bernardo is extremely generous, offering both option grant and actual shares. But I have not yet confirmed.
Buddies of mine are saying entry enginerds are offered roughly $80k (100k+ for phd). Mileage will vary depending on department,etc. Also, legal departments are sort of out there in pay scale. The days of the high flier stock options are over, but still we’re not talking about starving engineers (at least not the ones that I’ve seen).
Can’t say that about I.T… It’s not really tech, although it gets lumped into tech.

One thing for sure, I know that defense companies pay like crap (no I’m not employed there either).

[forsale_2007]

Aren't many engineers contractors anyway? I know in software it's more and more that way…

I always thought of options as more of an incentive to account for the risk in a new company, more so than a standard reward for working at a big one.. I don't foresee many front-line workers getting much of the pie, this seems like more of an executive thing once the company is established..

 

We hire a lot of I.T. contractors to get the grunt work done. But for more things like design/prototypes/first gen stuff, we typically use internal hires. Outsourcing is no longer as cost effective. It's like $50/hr for some folks some places like Bangalore for contracting, plus you have to deal with the time differential,language issue,etc. Also, contracting work quality tends to lag in house (especially overseas). It's just cheaper to open an office there.  I.T. typically is easier to outsource/contract. Other things like high tech r&d has challenges. You can't exactly outsource designing the next broadband protocol. 

The lesson I learned is if you're planning to stay in tech, don't stay in areas considered "engineering labor". 

[CDMA ENG]

So in comment to the very first post…

WHERES THE DATA…

Remember the slogan of this site.. “In God we trust… All else bring data”

Tech is back? Even with the 6 figures a lot of geeks draw these days it won’t buy you a reasonable home here.

Also, QualCom is is under the gun these days. Its own (once laughed at) spread spectrum technologies are being duplicated by the EU. Its called UMTS. QCom may have some tough times in the years ahead (right now they are still doing fine).

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

CDMA ENG – I couldn’t agree more.
The original post is either hype or hope, and no substance.
Sure tech may rebound and bring some decent jobs here in the future, but there is no evidence of it yet that I have seen.(other than some pretty solid Venture capital investment in bio-tech)

[SD Realtor]

I direct an engineering team for a large telecom company as well as perform real estate services. In the past few years the options have dried up mostly because of the new reporting guidelines for accounting. In years past yes many engineers did very well with stock options. Also many engineers in the field with over 8 years of experience have lots of stockpiled options however the net worth of those options may not be much if they were granted after 2000 unless they were reissued. Lots of employees at Broadcom had that happen.

What you said is pretty true 4plex. In fact at our company we do not have any annual merit increase anymore. We get a 6 month “bonus” now based on a formula that is tied into stock performance, production milestones, and design wins. In order to fund this “plan” we had no merit increase in the previous calendar year. The first payout last November was great, about 4% of our annual salary, the next payout this May will be less, about 3%. So in one year that is 7% which is great. Except we got no increase last year. The option grants have been meager at best. Also note, the base salary does NOT increase unless you get a promotion now.

SD Realtor

[blahblahblah]

Federal Government 39,100
State of California 37,100
UC, San Diego 24,790
City of San Diego 20,700
County of San Diego 18,900
Sharp HealthCare 13,872
USPS 11,611
Scripps Health 10,313
Kaiser Permanente 7,386
Qualcomm Inc. 6,000

Looks like a socialist paradise. 9 of the top 10 employers here in SD make payroll either directly with your tax dollars or indirectly through government subsidies and insurance. Also note that only one of the top ten employers actually produces anything other than services.

[The-Shoveler]

Nor_LA-Temcu-SD-Guy

One last point is engineers are practical types, ie.. if you gave one a million dollar bonus, they will more than likely buy a modest home and stick the rest in the bank or retirement account.

[4plexowner]

And continue to drive the 10 year old car, etc – we engineers are a practical lot …

[an]

I totally agree with a lot of the post regarding how tech is not going to save housing. To the OP who mentioned QCOM, remember that QCOM is still no where near its 52 week high. So engineers at QCOM who got options last year, their options are now still under water. I work at a large telecom company as a software engineer and I can attest to the lack of options & pay raise. You’ll be happy if you get a 3-4% pay raise. I also agree with Nor_LA-Temcu-SD-Guy that engineers are practical types. We tend to be more conservative with our money in regards to housing. Buying tech toys is a whole different issue :-).

[surveyor]

engineer spouses

while engineers may be frugal, their spouses may not be. my wife would always tell me about how a few engineers would be always asking for promotions and raises so that they could fund their spouse’s excess (usually because they were second wives).

[masayako]

surveyor,

I will have to say this is just another urban legend unless you have data to prove it? Or, is it a joke I don’t get? 🙂

[Critter]

This may sound strange, but one of the worst ways to justify asking for a raise is because you (or your wife) needs the money.

Raises should be granted because your work is stellar enough to warrant a wage hike. No one cares what you owe (similar to sellers who want to sell their homes for what they owe plus expenses, regardless of what the market will bear).

[masayako]

Another sad thing for tech. employees is that good company earning doesn’t equal more cash in their pockets.

3-4% merit increase on average don’t get you climb that housing ladder any easier.

[Author]

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