Switch the industry. You can get $50k/year swinging Drupal code with no questions asked or qualifications required. I am honestly confused as to why you'd stay in this horrible environment.
1 in the top 10, 1 in the top 20, 1 in the top 30, and 1 in the top 50.
They're all like that. If they can't (or won't) answer about cost control measures, then they're crap.
50K/yr for drupal. LOL. We've got developers working with VB/C# and TFS for $65K/yr. Another developer doing coldfusion for 60K. And all with top secret cleances and DoD 8570 certs. Just the industry standard.
I think everyone has seen the recruiter spam for companies that offer free drinks. How about a medical plan where I can chose which provided to see - not be assigned one 2 hours away. Keep the free candy bar, and give me a 401K instead.
They're not... you're being willfully obtuse. I can tell you they're not because I've never worked for a company like that. I'm sure they exist, but to say they're all like that is simply untrue.
I assume you meant “one you think works differently.“
Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are all known for treating their employees well and paying top dollar for them. I've worked at a couple of other internet companies (and not those), and have always been treated and paid well.
And honestly here's the thing. A number of people have told you that they've had much better experiences at our jobs than you've had at yours. Not only that, but there are several sources of data available to you, some in this thread and others you can find by searching for things like “what is it like to work for $company” or “best companies to work for”. There have also been a number of surveys here on HN about salary (you can find them by searching for salary), and discussions of people's experiences working at companies.
And yet, I don't think there is any amount of data anyone can provide to convince you that software developers are normally paid very well and treated exceedingly well. I don't know if you're just bitter from working in a shitty job for so long, if you're some kind of conspiracy theorist, if you have some kind of personality disorder or what, but you simply refuse to believe what we're all telling you.
Either that or you're trolling, in which case, well done. I don't know why, but this discussion has really gotten into my head.
Of the premier companies you listed I've only have brief exposure to one - their recruiter was apprehensive/defensive/rude when pushed about equipment. It seemed like the tip of the iceberg so I stopped returning emails/phonecalls.
As was written elsewhere, if it was just one company, then it would be just that - one company. But I've been through 4.
