<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>