<p>Gonna start a position in asic design this summer at a high tech company in bay area but surprised on pay compared to many of my friends going to top software companies facebook, google … with higher salaries with large amounts of RSU. Is it typical for the large hardware companies to not hand out RSUs in hardware positions like at Intel, Cisco, Qualcomm…</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>From what I can understand, there are no hardware companies that can match the starting salaries of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc…</p>
<p>I think it may be because barrier of entry in the software market is not very high so fresh hires are expected to be more productive?</p>
<p>Or maybe just the market is “hotter”?
I’ve been wondering about this too because I’m about to get my masters in EE. I know even with my masters in EE I would probably make less money than if I just got a good software position now with a BS. Its a little demotivating, actually.</p>