> So if Google and Facebook are the sexy places to work, and can offer programmers less They can, but they do not. The average salary may be lower as they hire

> So if Google and Facebook are the sexy places to work, and can offer programmers less They can, but they do not. The average salary may be lower as they hire more engineers out of college, but if you're an experienced engineer and have other offers, you'll get a good deal. There is, however, another other angle: they want 99 percentile talent, but are in the 75th percentile compensation wise. So a $130,000 ($100k + 30% bonus) at Google could easily be $150,000 elsewhere. However, this market value may not be realized until the said person has been at a 'brand name' company i.e., some will leave because having been at Google has made them much more valuable in the eyes of employers. > Oracle? Something else? Oracle pays worse, actually. Unlike Google and other companies, they also have strict rules about salaries for people with X years of experience: many excellent engineers left Oracle (and yes, Oracle can attract excellent engineers -- mostly to their database and middleware divisions) because they were told by their managers they wouldn't be able to receive any recognition for their work until they have spent N years at the company.