1. Bingham McCutchen (law firm)
Average total pay: $256,312
For: Associate
2. Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network
Average total pay: $244,605
For: Physicians
3. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe (law firm)
Average total pay: $240,955
For: Associate
4. Alston & Bird (law firm)
Average total pay: $203,655
For: Associate
5. Perkins Coie (law firm)
Average total pay: $190,126
For: Associate
6. Devon Energy (oil and natural gas producer)
Average total pay: $186,882
For: Engineer
7. Chesapeake Energy (natural gas producer)
Average total pay: $178,108
For: Toolpusher
8. Salesforce.com (CRM software)
Average total pay: $172,303
For: Senior Sales Engineer
9. Arnold & Porter (law firm)
Average total pay: $172,192
For: Associate
10. Adobe Systems
Average total pay: $165,947
For: Sr. Computer Scientist Software Development
11. EOG Resources (oil and natural gas producer)
Average total pay: $158,302
For: Engineer
12. Goldman Sachs (holding company)
Average total pay: $144,994
For: Other Exempt (i.e. Analysts, Program
Analysts, Associates and Professional Non-Exempt)
13. Boston Consulting Group
Average total pay: $141,111
For: Consultant
14. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Average total pay: $134,769
For: General Manager
15. NetApp (data storage firm)
Average total pay: $134,716
For: Member Technical Staff, Software 4
A bit bogus because the companies are ranked by most common salaried position, so it starts off with a bunch of law firms. There is a hospital with the most common salaried position being physician and a hotel chain with general director, conveniently ignoring all the orderlies and chamber maids which would make the average wage a lot less attractive. An there is that annoyance of clicking through 25 pages.
Does it bother you that so many of them are law firms. With all due respect to undeniable need to uphold law and order in a society, so many law firms say something about in which direction is productivity headed.
Do you want people proficient in laws or those building something of more value to be higher rewarded?
I was surprised at the number of tech firms in the list (e.g. Adobe, TI, NetApp, Cisco, Juniper) and the jobs that are listed are the engineering and other technical jobs. Reading the comments I wasn't expected any tech firms to be on the list.
What the hell is a Senior Sales Engineer (Salesforce.com)? I have a pretty good understanding of what those words mean separately, but as far as I can tell they to not belong together.
They work with the Sales team to give technical support and advice to potential customers before they buy a product. It's not a fun job IMHO unless you are technical and like to travel a lot.
I've done it before. It also involved working with the client on customization since the sales people don't always understand exactly what's possible.
It's fun if you like traveling and interacting with customers. Actually being part of closing a deal is kind of a rush. I imagine it pays well because it's not too easy for the sales guys to find engineers whom they're excited to bring to a meeting.
It can also be a great place to get comfortable dealing with high level business people, Fortune 100 executives, etc... You have to be able to (or learn to) communicate clearly to the super technical folks they bring, and to the CEO who can barely use his e-mail. You get very comfortable speaking in front of a large group, and you learn to think on your feet.
I did it for a few years, before the travel burned me out, and I feel I learned an amazingly amount of useful skills from it. Stuff they can't effectively teach in school and that you can't learn coding in your living room.
Fly home on Friday, fly out on Sunday. I don't know how they do it but I do hear if it's cheaper to fly somewhere else for the weekend (e.g. San Diego vs East Podunk) they'll let you.
