Qualcomm - Overview:
Qualcomm is a wireless telecommunications research and development company. They are based in San Diego, CA and have naming rights to the major local stadium (Jack Murphy Stadium, which will be known as Qualcomm Stadium until 2017). Qualcomm stock is publically traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol QCOM.
Qualcomm - Company History
Qualcomm was founded in 1985 by Irwin Jacobs, Parviz Nazarian, Neil Kadisha and Andrew Viterbi. They began with satellite messaging services and integrated circuits for digital radio communications.
Qualcomm branched out from there and manufactured CDMA cell phones, base stations, and chips. They later sold the base station business (to Ericsson) and its cell phone manufacturing (to Kyocera) and now focuses primarilly on developing and licensing wireless technologies and selling ASICs that implement them. (ASICs are Application-Specific Integrated Circuits, which are chips designed for a particular application).
Qualcomm also assisted in the development of the Globalstar satellite system (along with Loral Space & Communications). They developed BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless), a market dominant, proprietary platform for cell phones. Qualcomm also built the Eudora email program, which they comtinue to sell.
Qualcomm - Company Culture
Innovation is rewarded at Qualcomm. They have the QIN program, which stands for QUALCOMM Innovation Network. This program enables employees to voice their ideas, enhances the innovative culture at Qualcomm, and ultimately develops ideas that will benefit the business, and support innovation as a Qualcomm "way of life."
While researching Qualcomm, the following employee quote seemed to sum up most employee experiences at the company:
Qualcomm has the clearest vision, and most consistent behavior in executing that vision, of all of the companies for whom I have worked. Top management does not insult its employees with platitudes or slogans. Instead there is clear communication of direction and expectations.
Compensation at Qualcomm
Qualcomm is known to pay slightly above the market mid-point for most of their positions. The pay seems to be even higher for more senior engineers. Most employees at Qualcomm also have stock awards as an important component of their compensation. Benefits at Qualcomm are highly competitive and in-line with technology industry leaders.
Typical Openings at Qualcomm
When I last checked, there were over 600 technical positions open at Qualcomm. Following are a sampling of the technical positions typically available at Qualcomm: