If you talk to a software engineer, they’re probably most interested in attacking difficult and interesting problems that affect a lot of people.
But it’s really not surprising that some of the most popular software companies among engineers and developers also pay the best, according to salary data we pulled from GlassDoor.
We’ve assembled a list of the top tech companies in Silicon Valley that pay their software engineers and developers the best.
These salaries do appear to be entry-level engineers — so there are some senior engineers that make much more. But still, it shows why a lot of people choose the companies they do.
12. IBM : Average yearly salary: $86,608
IBM also has a really cool research division — so we’ll cut them a break if they let their engineers take a look inside while they are working in Armonk over the summer
11. Microsoft : Average yearly salary: $87,956
While Microsoft’s pay isn’t as good as, say, Google, it’s a huge company so there’s probably a big opportunity for learning and mentorship. So it’s not all terrible.
10. Amazon : Average yearly salary: $92,613
Amazon has to hire engineers to keep its site up and running briskly — literally every second matters. Naturally it has to have a competitive salary, though it’s a little surprising that the number isn’t a little bit higher.
9. Oracle : Average yearly salary: $99,391
Larry Ellison’s employees just barely slide under the $100,000 club, but Oracle is a pretty big company and a lot of the largest companies in the world use its technology. We’re guessing there are some intangibles here.
8. Zynga : Average yearly salary: $100,494
Now we’re getting into high-paying territory. Zynga poaches a lot of employees from competing companies like EA, so it has to offer more money than they do.
7. Yahoo : Average yearly salary: $102,638
Since Yahoo is in the midst of a lot of layoffs, they’ll have to bring out the checkbook if they want to attract some real talent to the company. It looks like they are doing just that.
6. Google : Average yearly salary: $103,438
Surprisingly, Google isn’t the highest-paying company for entry-level engineers, according to GlassDoor. But, Google also has some of the best perks in the world and you have access to an almost unfathomable amount of computing power. So there’s that.
5. Apple : Average yearly salary: $103,883
Apple actually pays its engineers slightly more than Google does, according to GlassDoor. But it’s still nowhere near some of the top startups in Silicon Valley. Though, it’s Apple, so you kind of have to give them a pass.
4. Cisco Systems : Average yearly salary: $105,562
Not too many engineers would willingly want to work at a hardware-specific company that doesn’t rhyme with Snapple. So it’s not much of a surprise that Cisco is paying its engineers a ton to work at the company.
3. LinkedIn Average yearly salary: $110,902
LinkedIn is probably the hottest IPO of 2011, so it has a lot of fresh capital and pays its engineers extremely well. It’s also a very young company, so there might be fewer senior engineers — skewing the salary a little bit.
2. Facebook : Average yearly salary: $111,428
Like Apple, Facebook is building a product that is literally changing the way the world works. Unlike Apple, Facebook pays extremely well.
Same goes for LinkedIn, though — it’s a younger company, so the number might be slightly skewed.
1. Twitter : Average yearly salary: $114,917
Surprise! It turns out Twitter pays its software engineers the best out of most of the top tech firms in Silicon Valley.
It also conveniently has a product that is, again, literally changing the way the world works.
e-News Xclusive @ Syed M Rajowan