Creative maintenance has never paid so well. Software engineering is now a conglomerate of job options offering great pay, benefits and a big map of workplace location options. Many companies have eliminated some of the previous add-ons to software jobs, like developer, programmer and architect, and morphed them into the engineer category. While opportunities are legion, corporate hiring managers outside the IT security realm may initially be looking more for skills than a security clearance. But it still has an advantage. A clearance serves as your first and highest job recommendation – courtesy of the U.S. Government.
With the current government initiatives underway to streamline and speed up the IT certification process for transitioning service members, those with software expertise may want to check out the current list of companies offering the highest paying software engineer jobs:
Federal Government –
Government software engineer salaries are fairly competitive with those in the private sector. The plus in federal jobs comes in the wealth of locations in which to work and live. While the Washington, D.C. region consistently leads with the most job openings, there are thousands of federal opportunities for software engineer jobs ranging from $90,000 and above in Atlanta, San Antonio, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago and Baltimore.
BAE Systems –
A global defense, security and aerospace company based in the U.K., the U.S. side, BAE Systems, Inc., has a number of sites throughout the country. It’s Land & Armaments division locations include Sterling Heights, Mich., Santa Clara, Cal., York, Pa., and its headquarters in Rosslyn, Va. Software engineers earn an average of more than $90,000.
Lockheed Martin –
More than 100 years ago, what began as a project to build a plane in a rented church in California became one of the largest defense contractors in aeronautics and information systems. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, the company operates in locations throughout the U.S. , paying senior software engineers above six figure incomes.
SAIC –
A leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services, the company employs 38,000 people and makes its home in McLean, Va. Software engineer salaries range from a starting point of $75,000, up to well over six figures.
Texas Instruments –
A global semiconductor design and manufacturing company, TI is headquartered in Dallas and operates in 35 countries. TI has a long list of awards and achievements, including being among Fortune’s most admired companies for ten years running. It has consistently earned a place in CR Magazine’s rank of best corporate citizens for 11 years, and offers software engineers annual salaries of more than $90,000.
Qualcomm –
The company’s history reads like another garage start-up success story. Seven people meeting in a den turned their interests into what is now a global company providing wireless technology solutions and services. Based in San Diego, software engineers earn upwards of $94,000.
NVIDIA –
Founded in the early 1990s in Santa Clara, Cal., NVIDIA started out providing visual computing solutions. The inventors of the GPU, the company has now moved into cloud, super and mobile computing and employs more than 8,000 people. Software engineers can expect salaries of about $105,000.
Oracle –
A computer technology corporation based in Redwood City, Cal., the company provides hardware systems and enterprise software. Since its founding in the late 1970s, the company has grown to more than 118,000 employees. Software engineers make above six figure incomes.
Hewlett Packard –
With more than one billion customers in more than 170 countries, Hewlett Packard’s portfolio spans printing, computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. The Palo Alto, Cal.-based company pays software engineers an average of $96,000.
Cisco Systems –
The company was founded by a Stanford University husband and wife team who couldn’t email each other from different buildings. They solved the technology problem by creating the multi-protocol router. In doing so, they created a technology giant that now employs more than 73,000 employees. Headquartered in San Jose, Cal., their list of software engineer jobs is also growing in Austin, Tex. Starting annual salaries hover around $100,000.
Microsoft –
No technology job list would be complete without a mention of Microsoft. Now the world’s leading software maker, co-founder Bill Gates, started the company in 1975 from Albuquerque, N. Mex. Headquartered in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft has more than 97,000 employees, and pays its software engineers an average of $100,000 and above.
CitriX –
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Cal., Citrix is a leading provider of virtual computing solutions. The company’s focus areas include cloud computing, enterprise application, server virtualization and desktop. Software engineers earn an average salary of $91,800.
