Looking for a job in tech? If money matters most to you, consider Microsoft as one of your top choices. According to new research from PayScale, the Redmond-based software (and potential future hardware)giant offers one of the highest starting salaries, with a median of $91,500 per year for workers with 0-5 years of experience. (Nvidia is #1 with median starting pay at $99,400.) Microsoft also offers some of the best perks, including paternity leave. Amazon, also based in Seattle, offers great benefits as well, including some of the best stock options.
PayScale's analysis of the top tech employers, presented as “Battle Over the Geeks”, reviewed pay, benefits, perks, work environment, typical age of employees and other factors that impact how each of the leading tech companies attracts the brightest minds in the business.
While Microsoft offers the highest starting salary, PayScale's research found Googleactually dominates pay over the long-term, with a median pay for workers with 10+ years of experience of $158,000. If being happy with your job is more important than your paycheck, though, consider LinkedIn. PayScale's data reveals 100% of LinkedIn employees report feeling extremely or fairly satisfied in their work. That said, you may want to avoid Monster, Samsung and Salesforce; employees at these companies most commonly report feeling extremely or fairly high stress on the job. And for those who like a good work-life balance, Facebook offers the highest amount of vacation among the leading tech companies, at 3.6 weeks per year.
To see these top tech employers compared side by side, be sure to view the complete "Battle Over the Geeks" infographic from PayScale.
Article updated on June 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm PST for accuracy.
