A restful haven for the mediocre, inexperienced, lazy, and apathetic - Senior Support Engineer Qualcomm Employee Review

2.0
Jun 23, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you want to live in San Diego, this is more or less the biggest game in town if you're a software developer (or - better yet - a hardware engineer). The commute is moderately tolerable - even if it sometimes takes more than an hour to get to work from downtown San Diego - and the benefits are decent. It's kind of like working for a solid B-list company in Silicon Valley.

Cons

QUALCOMM seems to be infested with employees who essentially got lucky: they somehow stumbled into a position with QCOM back in the early 1990s and worked their way into a more prestigious position with big cash prizes, stock grants, and so on. Sadly, this means that as a new hire you'll be faced with an impenetrable old boys' (or girls') network: as an outsider, you will never, ever be promoted. Many employees are minimally competent at best, and the company has embarked on aggressive cost cutting measures, so be prepared for a lot of offshoring hassles (think 6am meetings with India) as well as deep disconnects in terms of cross-cultural communication and technical competence.

Explore other reviews about Qualcomm

5.0
May 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Competitive Pay and good team

Cons

None, everything was pretty good

3.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits, the pay is like okay. Some cool reimbursement programs and health centers on campus

Cons

Career progression and culture varies extremely depending on department. Some parts almost set you up for failure and it's difficult to gain new skills. Lots of qualcomm teams are too scared to explore new technologies and migrate to state of the art services and are comfortable in sticking with old technology for familiarity. Also, HR does nothing if a coworker makes you uncomfortable.

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