Altera Engineer Reviews

Pros

- Get to work with lots of very talented people on challenging problems - Fast-paced environment where the work never gets boring - Lots of career opportunities, especially for talented, hardworking people - Altera has developed a solid, high margin business with lots of growth potential (validated by Intel acquisition) - Company has been growing investment into R&D for several years, has strong pipeline of next generation products under development and starting to come online - Good benefit package that includes everything expected from high tech company (e.g. health, employee stock and retirements plans, free drinks, etc) - Great attitude towards employee development / training - will even pay for university courses / Master's Degree.

Cons

- Work can be very intense & demanding at times - Communication between remote sites can be challenging, especially when meetings must occur outside of working hours due to time zones - General uncertainty about how work environment will change after Intel acquisition

Pros

You have a great number of smart engineers around the office to work and bounce ideas with. The work is technically challenging and engaging with lots of interesting problems to solve in large scale software and semi conductor development. You feel as though you work hard, but still get to enjoy time at home as well. Base compensation is good for the region.

Cons

A lot of smart people might make it an intimidating place to work, and difficult to get ahead. Many of the technical challenges are self inflicted (taking on too much), result of technical debt (shortcuts in the code base) or deal with infrastructure issues. Bonuses could be higher.

Pros

Work environment, nature of work (very challenging and intellectually satisfying), pay and benefits are excellent

Cons

Long hours but this is typical nowadays

Pros

Altera Toronto is an awesome place to work. The people in the software group are hands down amazing. There is this rare combination of smarts, friendliness, and competency that makes the group a joy to work with. The lower-level managers lead by example and genuinely care about the ones they supervise. Another big plus, the office itself is situated in downtown Toronto at the intersection of two major subway lines making it highly accessible.

Cons

Job security is a concern. Altera makes the high risk high reward play of going all-in on FPGA technology in free market capitalism. The company has no government or regulatory protections so if the market turns against it, be it from execution problems, recession, natural disaster, or new disruptive technologies, then jobs are threatened (and they have historically been cut). Also, a great team is a double edged sword. It is very hard to stand out and expectations are high. Although this results in excellent skill development, any one of those engineers may feel that their career will advance further in a weaker company where competency is confused with talent.