The job market is one competitive fight for making ends meet, especially when coming right out of college even if you are a graduate of top 10 engineering colleges in the world, but some career choices could lead a wide array of opportunity upon exiting higher education, like software engineering. This can be quite a lucrative field if you know what you’re doing; so much so that here is the Top 10 highest paying companies for software engineers, according to recent research carried out by career website Glassdoor.

10. Cisco

Being on of the world’s largest networking equipment companies definitely has its advantages, and one of those is the ability to pay your software engineers quite well. At a bit over 100 grand, working for number 10 should support you just fine.

Salary:

$101,909

9. Oracle

Oracle’s main function is to create enterprise software systems, and they are quite good at. This is most likely because they some very handsomely paid engineers to keep their products running well.

Salary:

$102,204

8. Amazon

Originating as an e-commerce site for people to get whatever they wanted delivered to their doorstep, Amazon has transformed from solely software to include hardware like its line of Kindle e-readers and tablets. You could probably buy a lot with your employee discount and fantastic paycheck come payday.

Salary:

$103,070

7. Intuit

You will probably be using the software you build for them to keep track of the enormous sum they’re paying you. Intuit just squeaks by beating Amazon for the number 7 spot but a couple hundred dollars can go a long way if you know how to use it.

Salary:

$103,284

6. Microsoft

Microsoft started off writing Basic for the Altair and then creating software like Word and Excel for the original Macintosh before coming out with their own desktop OS, Windows. They are definitely one of the most recognized software giants that enjoys dabbling in hardware, and they pay their engineers quite well to stay that way.

Salary:

$104,362

5. Zynga

Whether it’s Farmville or Word with Friends, you’ve most likely played something Zynga’s software engineers have created at least once, and at that salary, you can probably see why they keep making the addicting games that you see in App stores everywhere.

Salary:

$105,568

4. eBay

Another e-commerce giant and no doubt one of the first to start the trend for buying or selling whatever you’d like online. Even with competition like Amazon or Craigslist, eBay remains strong and pays its software engineers very well to make sure they stay one of the the most popular sites on the Internet.

Salary:

$108,809

3. Apple

Weighing in at number 3, this Cupertino company seems to spare few expenses to make sure its software engineers are pleased with the paycheck they receive bi-weekly. They can definitely afford to do so with a net worth of about $600 billion on a good day, and they seem to bring out the next big thing right when we want it the most.

Salary:

$114,413

2. Facebook

Facebook may have had its ups and downs in the public market and in the eyes of its users during the introduction of Timeline, but they still appreciate their software engineers by paying them a hefty salary every year and coming in at number 2 of the highest paying companies.

Salary:

$123,626

1. Google

Another story of software gone hardware and they have had a great influence in changing the way we see the web from the introduction of their powerful search engine to their own browser and collection of web apps to smartphones everywhere. They make sure their software engineers are the happiest in the world with the highest average salary in the field, so it might just be one of the first places you visit before graduating with your degree.

Salary:

$128,336