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Very succinct summary - with the contrast (from an investor perspective) magnified by the fact that Nvidia has stable management that has delivered over a numbe

Very succinct summary - with the contrast (from an investor perspective) magnified by the fact that Nvidia has stable management that has delivered over a number of years, compared to Intel's untested CEO and recent history of significant mis-steps.

mmmBacon 6y ago
Agreed on the management. Regarding Intel’s CEO, Bob Swan is a finance guy with no history or background in semiconductors. It remains to be seen whether someone with no real background in technology or in the semiconductor industry can turn things around at Intel.
- dyingkneepad 6y ago
  Apparently his current strategy is to just cut costs like craz-, I mean, like every CEO who was once a CFO. I know driver developers who work there and are stuck with old broken laptops of previous generations because there's no budget (they call it BTI) to upgrade. No dogfoodin for them. Even the previously free fruits are now just one per day per employee. Source: I know people who work there.
  - epmaybe 6y ago
    Anyone know how the AMD workplace is? Learning about work life at different companies is really interesting to me
    - entropicdrifter 6y ago
      I've always personally envisioned AMD's graphics driver team as a bunch of underdogs pulling off serious wizardry on a shoestring budget and still being criticized by the public for having any bugs at all.
  - paulie_a 6y ago
    Meanwhile the cost of monitoring the free fruit situation will cost more than the couple of crates of apple savings
    - awill 6y ago
      perks are very very hard to take away. THe lower morale, and in many cases cause the best employees to leave, not because of the actual perk, but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. I agree, I've seen many companies cut perks and yet not save any money, they just reduce morale.
      - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
        > not because of the actual perk, but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. and/or that money is tight and things are likely to get worse
      - paulmd 6y ago
        > but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. reducing perks is also a danger sign that a company is in a death spiral. If the company is to the point where it's worrying about $200 a week in fruit across N thousands employees then that can be indicative of other internal problems
        Sherl 6y ago
        It's also very indicative at this time, during pandemic about those companies chopping regular employees pay versus not doing anything to top line C suite. Many companies reduced pay by 10%-20% or stopped 401k match or even pay raise when C suite still made profits from recent stock moves.
      - JJMcJ 6y ago
        People get used to how a company is. If the lunchroom is like the orphanage in Oliver Twist, and you have 12 inch VGA monitors, well, that's just the way it is. At another company, if one day you notice that the coffee in the break room is no longer organic, even if it's of good quality, and the string cheese is only restocked twice a day instead of three times, that's a bad sign. Somebody is trying to save money. That may not mean the company is in trouble but it's a sign something isn't as good as it once was.
TuringNYC 6y ago
>> Nvidia has stable management I'd expand this further to say Nvidia has an enthusiastic, highly-charismatic CEO who literally has groupies (e.g., when you see him at conferences.) For a big-time CEO, he is also surprisingly nice and approachable -- I've now interacted with him on three separate occasions. It makes me like him, his company, what he does. I realize that is touchy-feely but I wonder how common this sentiment is.
- klelatti 6y ago
  I realise I did Nvidia a dis-service as Jen-Hsun and team are obviously much, much more than just 'stable'. Never met him, but seems very impressive and approachable - how many CEOs would give a talk to students sitting on the steps of a university entrance? [1] Just to add though that having groupies is not necessarily a positive for investors! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiBzmuqPNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiBzmuqPNY
  - obmelvin 6y ago
    He definitely seems approachable. Someone I knew from school interned at nvidia and supposedly he hosted a party at his house for the interns (possibly just PhD interns) and let people rev one of his fancy cars
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - sushshshsh 6y ago
      Oracle also threw us a party as new hires at Mark Hurd's "house" (party villa) in Atherton. HR and all of the top dogs were there except for Larry and the Board of course. It was a nice gesture but he had a lot of security combing the house at all times and we weren't allowed to bring our phones even. Definitely a well intentioned gesture but as always in SV corporate world, just becomes weirder by the minute :)
    - dbancajas 6y ago
      was an intern at nvidia. He's very approachable and all interns are invited to his huge ass california house. I saw came out of a meeting and just said hi to him. He's pretty much an engineer just like everyone except he's a CEO and he doesn't have that douchebag vibe like most tech CEOs are.

mmmBacon 6y ago

Agreed on the management. Regarding Intel’s CEO, Bob Swan is a finance guy with no history or background in semiconductors. It remains to be seen whether someone with no real background in technology or in the semiconductor industry can turn things around at Intel.

dyingkneepad 6y ago
Apparently his current strategy is to just cut costs like craz-, I mean, like every CEO who was once a CFO. I know driver developers who work there and are stuck with old broken laptops of previous generations because there's no budget (they call it BTI) to upgrade. No dogfoodin for them. Even the previously free fruits are now just one per day per employee. Source: I know people who work there.
- epmaybe 6y ago
  Anyone know how the AMD workplace is? Learning about work life at different companies is really interesting to me
  - entropicdrifter 6y ago
    I've always personally envisioned AMD's graphics driver team as a bunch of underdogs pulling off serious wizardry on a shoestring budget and still being criticized by the public for having any bugs at all.
- paulie_a 6y ago
  Meanwhile the cost of monitoring the free fruit situation will cost more than the couple of crates of apple savings
  - awill 6y ago
    perks are very very hard to take away. THe lower morale, and in many cases cause the best employees to leave, not because of the actual perk, but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. I agree, I've seen many companies cut perks and yet not save any money, they just reduce morale.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
      > not because of the actual perk, but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. and/or that money is tight and things are likely to get worse
    - paulmd 6y ago
      > but because of what that means - That the company doesn't value its employees. reducing perks is also a danger sign that a company is in a death spiral. If the company is to the point where it's worrying about $200 a week in fruit across N thousands employees then that can be indicative of other internal problems
      - Sherl 6y ago
        It's also very indicative at this time, during pandemic about those companies chopping regular employees pay versus not doing anything to top line C suite. Many companies reduced pay by 10%-20% or stopped 401k match or even pay raise when C suite still made profits from recent stock moves.
    - JJMcJ 6y ago
      People get used to how a company is. If the lunchroom is like the orphanage in Oliver Twist, and you have 12 inch VGA monitors, well, that's just the way it is. At another company, if one day you notice that the coffee in the break room is no longer organic, even if it's of good quality, and the string cheese is only restocked twice a day instead of three times, that's a bad sign. Somebody is trying to save money. That may not mean the company is in trouble but it's a sign something isn't as good as it once was.

TuringNYC 6y ago

>> Nvidia has stable management I'd expand this further to say Nvidia has an enthusiastic, highly-charismatic CEO who literally has groupies (e.g., when you see him at conferences.) For a big-time CEO, he is also surprisingly nice and approachable -- I've now interacted with him on three separate occasions. It makes me like him, his company, what he does. I realize that is touchy-feely but I wonder how common this sentiment is.

klelatti 6y ago
I realise I did Nvidia a dis-service as Jen-Hsun and team are obviously much, much more than just 'stable'. Never met him, but seems very impressive and approachable - how many CEOs would give a talk to students sitting on the steps of a university entrance? [1] Just to add though that having groupies is not necessarily a positive for investors! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiBzmuqPNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiBzmuqPNY
- obmelvin 6y ago
  He definitely seems approachable. Someone I knew from school interned at nvidia and supposedly he hosted a party at his house for the interns (possibly just PhD interns) and let people rev one of his fancy cars
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - sushshshsh 6y ago
    Oracle also threw us a party as new hires at Mark Hurd's "house" (party villa) in Atherton. HR and all of the top dogs were there except for Larry and the Board of course. It was a nice gesture but he had a lot of security combing the house at all times and we weren't allowed to bring our phones even. Definitely a well intentioned gesture but as always in SV corporate world, just becomes weirder by the minute :)
  - dbancajas 6y ago
    was an intern at nvidia. He's very approachable and all interns are invited to his huge ass california house. I saw came out of a meeting and just said hi to him. He's pretty much an engineer just like everyone except he's a CEO and he doesn't have that douchebag vibe like most tech CEOs are.