Pros
Context: CPUs have matured and become commodity. This means the difference in SoCs produced by the various players is not much. The application processor space is crowded as it is, margins for SoCs (in mobile at least) are thin and design timelines are short. Many SoC companies have started attempting to address newer markets (automobiles) - but at this time these markets are not yet established. Others are addressing niche areas - HPC, special purpose servers etc. Regardless of which computing area does well ARM will do well financially since they have their IP in a multitude of areas. Excellent business model: CPUs have become commodity and there will be consolidation in the industry - some of the worse performing entities will be eaten by others or will die. ARM is a rock of stability in this environment thanks to its business model Work life balance is mostly good. Timings are flexible (within reason). There are periods of crunch like in any product company. But overall its all good. The executive team (CEO and immediate team) know what they are doing. They are steering the company well, not sitting on laurels. Having said that, we are yet to see the benefits of some of the new directions. But their choices have been reasonable. Salary and compensation is OK. Not near top of the line, around average. I hesitantly put it as a pro because I have a many (relevant) issues in the cons. At this point pay is not a big ticket con item. If you can find a area to keep you occupied intellectually and a reasonable manager (believe me there are still some of those around) then its worth it. If not, look elsewhere. The cons are overwhelming.
Cons
Work is not challenging: ARM, by its own admission (and driven by its business model), makes portions of the SoC that are NOT differentiators. This is not the company that goes for the last ball six kind og approach. Solid engineering but the stuff is dull. In a CPU design company, if your site does not do CPU design you are a nobody in the pecking order. ARM Bangalore does not do design. We work on a lot of projects but they are Cambridge/Austin/Sophia/Sheffield (abbreviated as CASS) projects. Not your own. Net result there is very little opportunity to show your skills (and learn more and build depth). It has been made fairly clear that India will not be doing any design work (I presume this is forever since the answer is the same regardless of when the question is asked) Several times the reason cited (with no real evidence to back it) is that India does not have design engineers - only verification, software, and implementation folks!! On the other hand when deciding to locate a job function in Cambridge or Taiwan the company is ok with hiring people from other geographies and moving them to the new location with work visas!! A failed design project in India is cited as a reason why India cannot do design - though all other sites have had failures and delays as well. Basically the company does not believe enough in India to locate a critical function here. Folks from other sites that do CPU design may be rude, take you for granted, take credit for your work, or make statements that are not true about the work executed from India. They are not required to produce evidence to back claims. Their word will hold. Not everyone is that way but there are more than a small number of bad apples, including repeat offenders. Local management fall into two categories - do not know how to politically fight back, do not care. So you will get no support if you find yourself dealing with such a colleague If someone in CASS think you are doing an excellent job then thats all counts. All you may be doing is the equivalent of scrubbing the floor. But as long as you are willing to do crappy work for them they will give you good feedback on appraisals. If you do any kind of innovative contributions yourself it _may_ not be recognised unless of course it is blessed by someone abroad. Given the above issues, growth on the technical path in India above principal engineer is unlikely (not impossible we have a few). A Fellow is impossible. We have very few of those outside of Cambridge.
