The best and worst places to build a tech career

When considering a career in the tech industry, it's crucial to take into account not just the company's reputation but also its internal factors that can significantly impact one's growth and job satisfaction. To help job seekers make informed decisions, two nonprofits, the Burning Glass Institute and the Schultz Family Foundation, analyzed the career histories of 12 million workers across 1,750 of the largest employers in the country from 2019 to 2024.

They scored each occupation at each business on three key factors: promotions, retention, and salary.

This comprehensive database serves as a role-by-role guide to the best, average, and worst places to build a tech career. At the average company, there can be an 81-percentile point gap between the best and worst-performing roles in terms of promotions and retention. For example, at Chanel, fashion designers have a 97th percentile retention rate, while project management specialists have a 16th percentile rate.

The analysis reveals that the best places for tech workers include Amazon, Salesforce, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft, which offer top-of-market pay, excellent advancement opportunities, and jobs that employees tend to stay with. However, other tech giants like Apple, Uber, and Meta show mixed results. While some companies like Amazon and Salesforce excel across all three factors, others struggle in specific areas.

Liberty Mutual and USAA stand out as hidden gems outside Silicon Valley, offering strong career advancement and longevity for tech workers, even if their salaries don't quite match those of big tech companies. On the downside, companies like Goldman Sachs and Deloitte present less appealing options for tech workers, with limited advancement prospects and high turnover rates.

As the tech job market becomes more stable, tech workers increasingly seek employers that prioritize stability, offering steady growth and engagement over short-term gains or flashy brand names.