25. Citrix Systems pays its software engineers an average base salary of $91,844
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Citrix has a throbbing start up culture, which is preserved even amidst a host of new acquisitions in the Silicon Valley. The company has an excellent forecast to dominate in Desktop, Server Virtualization and Enterprise Application delivery segments. It has decent employee benefits and offers tremendous growth potential as the company expands."
Cons: "Affable work culture is not homogeneous through out the organization. Striking work life balance is highly dependent on geography, divisions within Citrix."
24. Texas Instruments pays its software engineers an average base salary of $92,870
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Very good work and life balance. Employees can choose how much effort to put in. Salary is also above average."
Cons: "Texas Instruments seems to be a conservative company. Company is moving out of some businesses. Too many layoffs in the last few years."
23. QUALCOMM pays its software engineers an average base salary of $94,097
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Great perks, people, work environment. Management encourages a great work life balance. Extra benefits like dental, medical etc. are amazing. People are friendly, happy, and helpful."
Cons: "None - this is a great place to work. You can grow your career here, and hard work will always pay off. You can come in and leave whenever you want. On site facilities such as multiple gyms, pool etc make coming to work fun!"
22. Hewlett-Packard pays its software engineers an average base salary of $96,893
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Have been working for about 15 years, great company to work for."
Cons: "Benefits are on par with the industry, however base salaries seem slightly under."
21. Expedia pays its software engineers an average base salary of $98,672
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Decent work-life balance. Open and candid atmosphere; smart and fun co-workers. Good culture, although it depends on the team. Good location."
Cons: "Decent pay but not as competitive as MS or Amazon. Career advancement is hard. Work can be interesting depending on the team but it's easy to get stuck doing the same thing for many years."
20. Intel pays its software engineers an average base salary of $98,804
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "You don't have to work your a*s off all the time, easy peaceful life (again this is strictly base on my personal experience, it varies with team to team) lots of perks. The proud feeling whenever the intel adds run on the TV 'ta da da daaa.'"
Cons: "Salaries bit below market, lot of competition, so difficult to climb up the ladder. Its a huge company, difficult to get yourself heard and work independently if that's the kind of think you are into. They call it a slow moving giant elephant."
19. Yahoo pays its software engineers an average base salary of $100,998
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "The culture is something many other companies could learn from!"
Cons: "I don't have really nothing to say here."
18. Cisco Systems pays its software engineers an average base salary of $101,991
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "You meet some brilliant people, and sometimes there are a few cool projects you can come across. Also, great flexibility in terms of work-life balance."
Cons: "A lot of hot air, and it can take LOT of time to get anything done. Some areas are pretty bureaucratic in nature and it can bog down your interest."
17. Intuit pays its software engineers an average base salary of $102,209
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Great benefits, products and Technology."
Cons: "Too less opportunities for personal growth."
16. Amazon pays its software engineers an average base salary of $102,831
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Good benefits, high salary, nice work environment, learning opportunities, nice seniors supporting staff, appreciable perks, nice location (Seattle), amazing experience, amazing campus
Cons: "Can't think of any; work schedule little hectic."
15. Microsoft pays its software engineers an average base salary of $103,563
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Overall it is good to be part of Microsoft. They pay well, benefits are good. Bonus and stock options are also good."
Cons: "Responsibility expectation is huge. Recently, they removed the no-cast medical benefits which make all of employees likely take a big cut in their take home salary. 401K match is only 50% where most of the big companies match 100%. Work-balance is always hard to maintain."
14. NVIDIA pays its software engineers an average base salary of $104,717
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Management has the abilities to create excitements in the job. Not much politics in lower level management."
Cons: "Too aggressive schedules promotes politics. Bad life/work balance. Bad benefits."
13. Oracle pays its software engineers an average base salary of $105,660
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "If you are placed in good project, it can be good learning experience, benefits are good."
Cons: "Best of world work place."
12. VMware pays its software engineers an average base salary of $106,568
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Awesome campus. Nimble. Engaging workforce."
Cons: "Some politics as in any place. Currently lacks direction."
11. PayPal pays its software engineers an average base salary of $106,920
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Agile environment. Stress on Innovation. Development is fast. Concentration on mobile."
Cons: "Legacy products can cause issues with new development. Need consolidation of products."
10. Zynga pays its software engineers an average base salary of $107,242
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Competitive Salary, Located in San Francisco, good perks. Good career opportunities if you join the right team."
Cons: "Tough HR policies. Certain teams have poor working conditions and little concern for their employees."
9. Bloomberg L.P. pays its software engineers an average base salary of $108,430
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Good pay, opportunity to take ownership of products, good benefits and nice building, depending on the team there could be some very interesting work. Good people to work with and lots of opportunities to work with very smart people."
Cons: "Old technology, can be very stressful, steep learning curve.
8. eBay pays its software engineers an average base salary of $108,461
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Good work environment. Great opportunity for growth and work with great people who are friendly and are willing to help. I am able to learn a lot of new things while on the job. It's a good learning experience for me."
Cons: "I don't have any views for cons except for the cafeteria. I bring my own food."
7. Brocade Communications pays its software engineers an average base salary of $111,858
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Very active development with potential to work on many areas. Top performers are rewarded for their efforts. Overall, the work environment is good."
Cons: "Need to streamline development environment to make things easier to do your job. Everyone wants to be a manager, but many do not have the skills to be an effective manager."
6. LinkedIn pays its software engineers an average base salary of $116,375
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "1. Excellent engineering culture 2. Daily work is very challenging and fun. A lot of new technologies and you can not even know all of their names. There are always things you can learn. 3. LinkedIn has a good business model. 4. People with different types of expertise (Engineering, Sales, Business, Analytics) can all have interesting things to work on."
Cons: "Don't have decent free breakfast and dinner. Only free lunch is included."
5. Apple pays its software engineers an average base salary of $118,192
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Low stress level, offices with doors, good pay, everyone says 'wow' when you tell them where you work."
Cons: "There are no downsides working at Apple. It's a great place to work."
4. Facebook pays its software engineers an average base salary of $118,857
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "It is good to work here with the smartest people in San Francisco bay area. The company is always moving fast."
Cons: "Sometimes it is moving too fast. The food in cafe can be better, but the snacks in micro-kitten are really good."
3. Twitter pays its software engineers an average base salary of $120,768
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Good perks. Very smart people (being pre-ipo, twitter attracted a lot of super smart people). Lots of interesting work to do."
Cons: "Surprisingly large number of 'engineering managers,' senior managers, directors and VPs for a company of this size. Slow moving."
2. Google pays its software engineers an average base salary of $124,520
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "A great company with a great history that still allows you to make contributions that can have significant impact. Awesome work culture."
Cons: "I used to love this company and thought we contributed a great deal to help the industry and society, and that we could do no harm. Unfortunately, I don't believe this about the company anymore, and I have recently lost a great deal of confidence in the current leadership team. The company has recently become run much more top down than the bottoms up nature of the years past."
1. Juniper Networks pays its software engineers an average base salary of $128,378
A current software engineer there says:
Pros: "Great talent. Good possibilities to make a difference in a competitive market."
Cons: "Too much bureaucracy on managerial level."
