Archive for February, 2009

Got 5 Years Experience or Less? San Francisco Bay Area’s Top Paying Jobs

Posted by • February 27th, 2009 • 4 Comments

This June, about a million and a half individuals will graduate from college. Not the best timing given the current economic environment, but not much these folks can do about that. So what’s their game plan?

For many universities, graduate school applications are up, as people are looking to prolong their entrance into the working world a few years, with even more education and thus hopefully, more marketability. For others, however, including those who have graduated in the past 5, things aren’t so bad if you’ve found the right position.

Here at Glassdoor we took a look at the top paying jobs in the Bay Area for those with 5 years or less experience. While some of these positions do take an advanced degrees to get in the door, others just take a some hard work.  Take a look:

Glassdoor Report: Top 20 SF Bay Area Jobs by Income
(Jobs identified by those who have less than 5 years experience)¹

Rank
Job Position
Base Pay
Bonus
Total Pay

1
Attorney, 4th-Year
$206,429
$42,286
$248,714

2
Investment Banking Associate
$96,833
$119,583
$216,417

3
Attorney, 3rd-Year
$176,364
$22,364
$198,727

4
Attorney, 1st-Year
$160,000
$14,429
$174,429

5
Attorney, 2nd-Year
$155,000
$18,088
$173,088

6
Software Engineering Manager
$107,800
$39,280
$147,080

7
Senior Product Marketing Manager
$121,375
$15,288
$136,663

8
Senior R&D Engineer
$120,143
$12,500
$132,643

9
Senior Product Manager
$114,493
$14,567
$129,060

10
Business Development Manager
$109,000
$19,500
$128,500

11
Staff Engineer
$103,733
$23,033
$126,767

12
Principal Product Manager
$106,800
$15,900
$122,700

13
Principal Software Engineer
$119,800
$2,600
$122,400

14
Brand Manager
$102,429
$19,929
$122,357

15
Senior Member of Technical Staff
$105,413
$15,331
$120,744

16
Research Scientist
$106,378
$10,900
$117,278

17
Senior Software Engineer
$100,599
$12,990
$113,588

18
Senior Process Engineer
$103,098
$9,750
$112,848

19
Product Manager
$100,007
$12,520
$112,527

20
Investment Banking Analyst
$62,632
$49,211
$111,842

¹ Data is cumulative from June 2008 ...

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Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s – Part Three: Achievement Atrophy Fear

Posted by • February 26th, 2009 • 1 Comment

This is the third post of a four-part series on Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s (Financial Fears, Esteem Fears, Achievement Atrophy Fears, and Rejection Fears)

I believe it to be true that if you don’t use a talent, you will lose it. In high school, I had a good singing voice and used it in school choir, church and music-theater.  When I went to college I stopped singing and guess what, today I don’t sing very well at all.  This is frustrating because I could once, but now I can’t.  Somewhere along the way my vocal chords atrophied.

When you don’t use something, you can lose it and we can have those fears about being laid off and losing our “work and achievement” muscles.  We worry: if we aren’t in the middle of the game will we lose “what it takes” to achieve and succeed?  While these concerns may be valid there are easy ways to overcome the fear of atrophy:

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Apple Shareholders Meeting Raises Questions Over Executive Transparency

Posted by • February 25th, 2009 • Leave a comment

The annual Apple shareholders meeting took place this morning, the first Jobs-less meeting in more than a decade. This is the first opportunity shareholders have had to ask the actively present C-suite questions about how Apple handled the news of Steve Jobs’ health, his medical leave, his scheduled return in June, and what happens next at the company. 

Balancing the needs of shareholders with concerns over Jobs’ privacy is likely one of the most difficult challenges the Board has had to face. Since Steve Job’s return to Apple in 1997, he has not only revamped the company to become financially successful but has also caused it to be an attractive place to work (#19 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list). According to the 300+ Apple employee reports on Glassdoor.com, Steve Jobs is one of the highest rated CEOs (91% approval rating). 

As a result of Steve Jobs’ popularity, we can readily find background information online about where Jobs’ grew up, where he went to school, what religions he is interested in and so on. But does his own private health information become part of public record due to his high profile? Where does the line of workplace transparency get drawn when ...

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Be All That You Can Be

Posted by • February 24th, 2009 • 1 Comment
Army Letter

I just received a very official-looking envelope from the Department of the Army, 101 Army Pentagon, Washington DC. I have to say that I’ve received many letters in my life, but never from the Pentagon. I looked at AJ sideways and wondered aloud if I missed an announcement re-instating the draft. Then I remembered I’m way too old to get drafted. So I opened the letter.

It was a thank you letter. From the army. I had almost forgotten, they were voted #43 on our Employees’ Choice Best Places to Work list. I remember being extremely impressed and this letter reminded me why:

As I scan through the more than 86 reviews from army personnel on Glassdoor, the statement ‘Our Soldiers, Civilians, and Families make great sacrifices to serve our Nation and defend our freedom’  comes to life for me. The reviews range from Special Forces Seargent to Army Captain to Security Manager and everything in between. The reviews remind me that these folks have given their everything for us, putting themselves into harm’s way and suffering separation from their loved ones on 18-month rotating deployments.  One Army Officer wrote about these downsides:

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Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.Rs – Part 2: Esteem Fear

Posted by • February 23rd, 2009 • 3 Comments

This is the second post of a four-part series on Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s (Financial Fears, Esteem Fears, Achievement Atrophy Fears, and Rejection Fears).

The stories of people who go days and weeks pretending to their families and friends to have their jobs after being laid-off are real.  The fear of losing self-esteem is real and can be all-consuming.  I heard the story the other day of the senior executive who was laid-off and wouldn’t go to her book club because she was embarrassed.  This is all about self-esteem and what can happen when we lose our jobs.  There are no easy answers, but there are easy actions that can be taken to ensure that the fear of loss of self-worth is mitigated:

Stay active. If there’s something that represents “who you are,” then keep doing it. For me, I am long-distance runner and when I feel like my self-worth is challenged — decreasing or questionable — I hit the road and count the miles toward my goals that helps me feel healthier and better.  Set goals for yourself now versus later.
Write “your story.” Grab some alone time to think and write down who you think you are. This is pretty important since ...

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Update: Laid off Microsoft Employees to Keep Extra Payouts

Posted by • February 23rd, 2009 • 1 Comment

UPDATE: Microsoft has quickly rectified the administrative glitch regarding several severance packages – The company said the laid off workers could keep the extra payouts.

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Bank of America Hiring as Countrywide Transaction Completes

Posted by • February 20th, 2009 • 17 Comments

Bank of America today announced that they would be rebranding Countrywide to Bank of America Home Loans, in light of the tarnished reputation that surrounds the lending brand.  This news comes on the heels of the January announcement that the company had completed its purchase of Countrywide for $4 billion in stock.  Reports are also stating that Bank of America will be adding 1,000 new jobs to staff the new Home Loan division, along with moving 500 current jobs to this new endeavor. 

The question is, what does this mean for both past Countrywide and current Bank of America employees?  Looking through the reviews and salaries on Glassdoor, we found a few interesting tid-bits we thought we’d share:

Salaries:  At Countrywide, a home loan officer earns about $63k/year.  But Bank of America home loan officers reportedly earn an average $67K/year. Does this mean that Countrywide loan officers will see adjustments to address equity gaps?

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Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s – Part One: Financial Fear

Posted by • February 19th, 2009 • 5 Comments

Editors Note: Rusty Rueff is Glassdoor.com’s career and workplace expert and a member of the Company’s board of directors. He previously ran global human resource departments at Pepsico and later Electronic Arts and is co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business, (Prentice-Hall. 2006). He was most recently CEO of SNOCAP, the digital music commerce provider for MySpace, until its sale to imeem in April 2008. Through the Glassdoor.com blog, Rusty contributes practical career advice for employees and jobseekers and provides unique perspectives from an employer’s point of view.

This is the first post of a four-part series on Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s (Financial Fears, Esteem Fears, Achievement Atrophy Fears, and Rejection Fears)We often hear FDR’s quote in our world today, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” There is a lot of fear today around being laid off.  Either you have already lost your job and fearful that another job will not be there for you, or you are fearful that you may be the next person in the office to be let go.  It is true; fears that are managed and controlled are ones that can be overcome.  But, they ...

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January’s Review of the Month

Posted by • February 18th, 2009 • 1 Comment

What? We’re more than halfway through February?!? Well, we may be a little late posting the January Review of the Month but we don’t really know anyone who wouldn’t accept $500 for having written a well-rounded company review. 

January’s Review of the Month goes to a Caterpillar employee in Peoria, IL who has one of the greatest sounding job titles to date – ‘Six Sigma Black Belt’. But don’t be alarmed this is not the reason this employee’s review was selected. This month’s winner was selected for its quality peek inside Caterpillar which offers readers valued insights as to what the company does well and where the company falls short. (Note: Caterpillar was recently selected as a Glassdoor Best Place to Work, an employee’s choice award.) 

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Mobile Company Employees Report What It’s Like on the Inside

Posted by • February 17th, 2009 • 4 Comments

The Mobile World Congress kicked off Monday in Barcelona, bringing together nearly 50,000 attendees for the largest exhibition in the mobile industry. Not only is this a great opportunity for those in the mobile world to network, but it is also an opportunity to see some of the hottest trends in mobile communications. 

Despite the fact that some expect the global mobile market to shrink 9% in 2009, TechCrunch comments that 2009 is expected to be “the year many of the predictions made about the rise of mobile may start to come true. Startups in the space are poised to take advantage of affordable mobile Internet access and sophisticated handsets like the Apple iPhone.” 

While we anticipate more announcements and technology previews during the conference, we decided to go beyond the press releases and presentations to see what employees of leading mobile handset manufacturers and wireless carriers really think about their employer’s prospects.

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