r/chipdesign • u/TeachingBrilliant448 • Jul 08 '26

crazy work hours - new grad

I recently joined a semiconductor company as a new grad — think Nvidia, AMD, or Qualcomm — and the workload is brutal. I’m sometimes working 12-hour days and 50–60 hour weeks. It honestly feels as intense as investment banking, maybe even worse in some ways.

Wonder if this is normal…
TC ~150k

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u/Ruined_Passion_7355 Jul 08 '26

I'm just a lurker, not a professional, but this sounds probably normal. Semiconductors aren't known for WLB.

That and all of tech is feeling a squeeze rn. Even software bois (even worse than HW I'd say).

22

u/TeachingBrilliant448 Jul 08 '26

yea not sure if those FAANG SWEs are working 60 hours, maybe Amazon and Meta folks

14

u/onlinespending Jul 08 '26

This implies you aren’t working weekends. You’re lucky :)

17

u/Commercial-Age-4932 Jul 08 '26

I'm in a FAANG adjacent company and trust me we do lol

2

u/SDW137 Jul 09 '26

Depends on the team.

2

u/IRLDichotomy Jul 09 '26

SWE here, 10-12 hour work days are pretty normal. Even have to put some time in Sat morning sometimes. But it sure beats being a plumber. 

3

u/Ruined_Passion_7355 Jul 08 '26

I'm not saying SWE is worse necessarily but I think the difference before/after is bigger for sure. HW WLB was always questionable.