Google Offers Most Lucrative Salary to Software Engineers
Search engine giant offers average base salary of $128,336 to software engineers.
With the myriad of competition in Silicon Valley attracting quality talent, Google has ensured it recruits the brightest software engineers by offering an above-average salary.
According to a new study conducted by job listings and information site Glassdoor, Google software engineers earn an average base salary of $128,336.
In comparison, Facebook offered $123,626, while Apple mustered up $114,413 this year. eBay, meanwhile, pays $108,809 and Zynga forks out a total of $105,568.
Last year, Google issued a 10 percent raise to every single employee working for the search engine giant. Facebook, however, is seemingly edging closer to reaching Google's above-average salary for engineers. Glassdoor says that the average salary difference between the two companies decreased this year to $4,710. Comparatively, it was $6,852 during 2011.
The majority of the major Silicon Valley firms listed in the Glassdoor report are well ahead of the national average for a software engineer’s base salary -- $92,648, which represents a 2.5 percent increase from last year's figure.

You are a poor software engineer. Top companies (b**** please), if you really have worked for top companies then you are very poor. I have 3 years of work experience and in one more year I will be drawing close to 75% of what is advertised here
It always includes benefits. I'm betting true base salary is in the 50-70k range, depending on experience.
Really doubt it. 50-70k would be pathetically low for a software engineer at one of these companies. 125k sounds a lot more reasonable.
Not sure where you have been working but I have.
I live in Texas and am a .Net software engineer for a company that is nowhere near a "top" company and I make over $105,000 base salary per year. That does not include cost of benefits, company phone, bonuses (which I do get), laptop, etc.......
I have been in the field since 2005 and here in my region I dont know anyone that would go work somewhere for less than 90k and even that is cutting it pretty close. Only exception to this would be the really sh!tty developers that are not work their salt.
Because compensation and ability are always well aligned. Also keep in mind that your first few years are often the largest growth, as you prove you are actually capable of contributing.
As others have pointed out, cost of living is a big deal. You may make that much because you are in an expensive area, not because you are any better than anyone else.
Job mobility is another big factor, Google pays more because it's engineers could jump to Facebook at the drop of a hat; the same can be true anywhere, if there is a lot of demand in a region, salaries are going to be higher, regardless of individual ability.
Lastly, you probably couldn't be more of an _ _ _ if you tried. Way to jump to conclusions about someone you don't know anything about other than salary.
Instead of selling your code (songs) why not retain the license to your code, create an organization that allows for fair trade of source code among developers/entrepreneurs, and then we will all have 7 figure salaries.
Google is kind, but they are not paying those salaries out of the goodness of their heart. The people they hire are very talented and are the most likely people to know the software market is ripe for product ideas.
I think people overestimate the effort to create your own company and sale innovative products ( customers are more forgiving to innovative products because they had to live without them previously ). And the sky is the limit in term of what you can make ($) if you do this.
Not saying everybody should do this. But if more people did this, it would increase the salaries of every developer even more !
We should be in a time of exponential growth in productivity... don't let all that growth go to rich people, your human capital is the precious commodity of this century.
Back on topic, I'm shocked that the average for those companies is only $120-something-k a year. I already make that about that much, my plans were to eventually wind up at Google someday making $200k/yr. They only take the very best of the best, who I assumed all make way more than $120k/yr. I actually was recruited by them when I was a relative n00b, and basically petered out at step 3 (out of 8 or 10?) of the Google interview process, predictably so considering I was relatively inexperienced, have never written a book about Linux or Python, and don't have an Ivy League education...
Nice living conditions are necessary when you are working 60+ hours a week. Seriously, the money is nice, but getting worked to the bone gets old. I left a job making close to those rates for one making ~$80k but 'only' ~45 hours a week. My previous job making ~$110k averaged around 55-60 hours per week. It was rare that I actually got 2 days off on the weekend. And most of the time you aren't allowed to take even 2 weeks of vacation per year. The problem is that there is so much demand that companies have trouble finding competent people.
If there's so much demand that companies like MS, Google or FB are forced to pay $100k (bonuses and stock options included, before taxes) to inexperienced college graduates (they are, I've turned down an offer from one of those companies), then how can anyone be forced to work overtime? If companies are willing to pay so much for good developers, then they should also be willing to allow them to 'only' work 40 hours a week, for fear of people quitting because of the unbearable working conditions.
On another note, there's something SERIOUSLY wrong with the world if people like me can just go to the States and make upwards of $100k/year doing something that is, frankly, easy and pleasant, and at the same time (some of) my compatriots break their backs doing exhausing physical labor and only get about $4k/yr...