Intel is one of the leading semiconductor chip manufacturers, who supplies microprocessors for companies like Apple, Lenovo, HP, and Dell. It's said that every few years, the number of transistors on a microchip doubles (Moore's Law). It's also understood that the cost of computing halves in that period of time. As transistors become more advanced, we have benefited from computers becoming smaller and more powerful. This includes being able to use the smart phones, tablets, and GPS systems today as well as being able to play video games with realistic graphics and doing work on spreadsheets.

In order to achieve this, Intel has a very thorough process by which it manufactures silicon chips. This product lifecycle can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years, from ideation all the way to release. First, strategic planning product managers will gather ideas and work with external customers to gather requirements. They will send these to manufacturing. Then in the next phase, or the "post-silicon" phase, the manufactured CPU is tested in the labs where other product managers work to validate what was built. Finally, the chip can be brought to the market and launched.

There are several PM personas in the process here. Strategic planning product managers work with customers and engineers to gather requirements and prioritize them. Then, TPMs work with the engineering team to execute the plans. In the post-silicon phase, project analysts will help product managers build dashboards to monitor metrics. Manufacturing product managers will work to ensure the quality of manufacturing meets requirements and key metrics are being achieved. Finally as the CPU is nearing the end of the production cycle, PMs will validate that the CPU is working as planned, run any final regression tests, and check that all requirements are validated.

If this sounds interesting to you, a PM role at Intel may be the right fit for you! PMs at Intel come from a variety of backgrounds including data analytics, electrical engineering, hardware, and software. Many non-technical folks also join Intel and later transition internally into product management.

Read on to learn more about the PM interview process at Intel.

Interview Stages

In the interview process, you should hear back within 2 weeks. It is Intel guidance to try to get back to candidates within a week.

Recruiter

First you will speak with a recruiter or a PM from the team. This will be a 30 minute phone call where you'll go over your resume and learn more about the role. Be prepared to talk about your past experiences (both from work and side projects) and practice communicating clearly.

Phone

For most PM interviews, there is typically a phone interview with product questions. However, the Intel PM whom we spoke with did not encounter a phone interview. If you have an experience you would like to share, we'd love to hear from you! Send a message to [email protected].

On-Site

In the on-site round, you will have 2 interviews. A unique aspect of interviewing with Intel is that you will face 2 people in each interview. But don't be intimidated! It'll be like sitting in a room and chatting with 2 co-workers.

In the first interview, you will chat with 2 PMs. These can be either PMs or junior PMs. You will have 45 minutes of behavioral questions and 45 minutes of technical questions. Remember that you are interviewing at a silicon chip company, so expect technical questions related to that field. For example, understand tradeoffs in power vs performance in CPUs.

Finally, you will have a 2 hour chat with a senior PM and an engineering manager. The senior PM will likely be the hiring manager as well. Here, you can expect to face behavioral, strategic, and analytical questions.

With strategic questions, you will be asked questions about the competitors, market trends, and Intel-related questions around strategy. You may be presented with a scenario and asked what you would do.

With analytical questions, you may be shown a dataset and asked questions based on what's given. Be sure to point out any trends you see and reveal what you would do to gather more insights from the data. Think about how you would present this data to executives and other stakeholders. Which key metrics would you want to monitor?

Hiring Decision

Candidates interviewing for a PM role at Intel are measured on the following traits:

• Ability to work well with others
• Leadership
• Analytical skills
• Ability to influence
• Ability to work with engineering

To put your best foot forward, record yourself speaking. Many people have weird quirks about the way they present themselves. Some may jiggle or shake their leg. Others may use excessive filler words (like uh or um). It is nearly impossible to catch these quirks on your own. So, recording and re-watching yourself is a good way to be more cognizant of how you are presenting yourself.

Tips and Strategies

A unique aspect of interviewing for the PM role at Intel is that you may be facing 2 interviewers in one session. In other words, it may seem like a 2 vs 1 scenario where two Intel folks are asking questions to you, the candidate. However, do not be intimidated. Intel likes to hire folks who work well with others. You will find that the people at Intel are very nice.

The Intel website and blog has good information on the latest happenings in the company. This site shows how intel makes the chips and contains a deeper explanation of the manufacturing process. Browse and read through the material to get a better understanding of Intel's work.

Then, take a look at the competitors. In the last few years, AMD has made significant strides in its silicon chips. Tim Cook also announced in 2020 that Apple will be producing its own processors for its desktops and laptops, moving away from its reliance on Intel chips. Having a good knowledge of the ecosystem can help you make meaningful contributions to interview discussions.

Finally learn the manufacturing process for chip making. What are the benchmarks and workloads used? How do different CPU chips compare at entry level vs high end points? Again, a lot of this information can be found on the company website.