Apple's software engineers underpaid?

[Blue Velvet]

According to his employees, Apple chief Steve Jobs is simply a fabulous fellow to work for, more beloved than just about any other big-tech CEO. Jobs' workers love him so dearly, indeed, that they seem willing to take pay cuts in return for the pleasure of laboring on his many visions.

...

How do I know all this? Not because I went out and interviewed people who work at Apple and Yahoo (hey, I'm too busy ferrying people around in my Smart car taxi). Instead, I've been reading Glassdoor.com, a new Web site that aims to lay bare the soul of corporate America -- the thoughts, fears and pay stubs of employees.

Glassdoor is a review site in the manner, say, of TripAdvisor or Yelp, but here it's the insiders, rather than outsiders, who are doing the reviewing. It's certainly not the first employee-rating site -- Vault.com is a leader in this business -- but Glassdoor, which is backed by much venture money, is packed with many more features than the competition. And it's free.

Well, sort of free. The site dishes details on a handful of big tech firms -- Apple, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft -- to all, but to get information on other companies, you've got to give up your own data.

...


What does a software engineer at Google make? Based on comments from 10 Google engineers, the range is $80,000 to $150,000, with the typical salary around $97,000. If you work at Google and make less than that, you might consider asking for a raise.

The same's true for software engineers at Microsoft and Yahoo, but as the graph above indicates, engineers at Apple make considerably less -- $84,000, on average. Either Apple's developers are just not as great as the engineers as Google, or the joy of working at such an iconic firm far outweighs the meager financial returns.

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/06/11/glassdoor/index.html

 

[gauchogolfer]

Well to be fair, you've got to factor in the cost-of-living difference between Mountain View and Cupertino.



Oh, wait...nvm.

 

[IJ Reilly]

"... meager financial returns."

I suppose we are talking in relative terms, but even so.

I also have to wonder if they've factored in benefits, access to stock options, bonuses, and the like.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Given that Glassdoor's model is that you can't see the details of salaries and employee's reviews, this is far as you can get without dishing the dirt yourself.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Apple-Reviews-E1138.htm

 

[CanadaRAM]

10 responses is inadequate to calculate any kind of average (don't know how many Apple respondents there were.) One value out of range (high or low) skews the average.

For example, in one neighborhood in Washington State, the average yearly income is $2,400,000 per family. Good neighborhood to be in, right? Except that's 100 families scraping by at $80,000 a year plus one house owned by W. Gates who reports $234,000,000 per year. Is that $2.4 mil a representative average?*

(See Stephen Jay Gould's Full House for a discussion on statistics and the improper use thereof)


(* yes, I made those figures up. Bill Gates probably brings home much more than that)

 

[xUKHCx]

I also have to wonder if they've factored in benefits, access to stock options, bonuses, and the like.

Click the link

The graph shows that they include bonuses.

I'm currently in the search for a job and the places I am considering the most aren't the highest paid by any stretch but they are for the company with the best reputation in CSR, the best responses from the employees I have spoken to etc. I'd rather work happy than in a job I would hate.

 

[dukebound85]

who cares?

i mean in the sense they agreed to the salary when they accepted the job. If apple isn't competitive with salaries, it will reflect in the decline of people accepting posisitions. Economics will play itself out

If it was so bad, apple engineers can always apply for google lol

also, salary isnt the only form of compensation. i wonder what the retirement/vaca/benefits comparisons are

im sure there are some who took lesser salaries because they wanted to work for apple

 

[IJ Reilly]

The graph shows that they include bonuses.

Your eyes are better than mine. Could they have made that print any tinier?

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around "meager financial returns."

 

[gauchogolfer]

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around "meager financial returns."

Have you looked at housing in the South Bay recently? I'd say it's 'meager' in comparison. It all depends on where you're standing, I suppose. I'm an engineer and the range seems pretty similar to my industry (and SB isn't any cheaper, sadly).

 

[IJ Reilly]

Have you looked at housing in the South Bay recently? I'd say it's 'meager' in comparison. It all depends on where you're standing, I suppose. I'm an engineer and the range seems pretty similar to my industry (and SB isn't any cheaper, sadly).

Let's put it this way: Lots of people live in these expensive regions of California on far less than $100k a year. That kind of salary isn't "meager" in my estimation.