Are these Developer and IT Salaries Believable?

Some may scoff, yet plenty of wage slaves have flocked to Glassdoor since it launched in 2008. The site enables users – without publishing their name – to post their salary figure. In exchange they get to see the salary data of other anonymous users.

A Glassdoor PR rep told me that the site now holds “more than a million salary reports, company reviews, and interview questions as well as office photos for more than 90,000 companies.”

Really, office photos? Why upload a photo of your office while providing confidential salary data? Isn’t that just a little…odd?

Glassdoor attests to the Internet’s ability to break down the walls that hide secrets. Information wants to be free, or so they say. Facebook proves that people have an overwhelming compulsion to share their personal data – sometimes too much so.

But is the information real?

When Glassdoor launched, CEO Robert Hohman told me the site takes great care to check its user-generated salary figures.

“We’ve got a bunch of technical and procedural mechanisms to vet the data,” he said, though when pressed on details, he deferred. “We’re not really talking about the specifics we’re using.”

The site claims “we require each user to certify their employee relationship to the company when they submit their post.” Furthermore, Glassdoor’s “active community moderation and our commitment to review every post, allow us to have confidence in our information.”

Hmmm…well, maybe that means the numbers are valid. Or maybe not. We don’t know exactly what’s happening behind the scenes. We have no independent verification of data. So the question remains: are these developer and IT salary numbers accurate?

What’s your opinion, based on your experience in the tech working world? Are these figures for real, or merely an aggregation of half-baked, semi-reliable unnamed Internet surfers?

Peruse the salary numbers and post your feedback in the Comments section below. If applicable, please list your industry background.

Microsoft Software Development Engineer

Average: $87,276

Range: $68k to $140k

Amazon Software Engineer

Average: $90,757

Range: $73k to $110k

Bloomberg L.P. Software Engineer

Average: $98,094

Range: $80k to $135k

Dell Software Engineer

Average: $84,330

Range: $64k to $115k

Oracle Principle Application Developer

Average: $104,140

Range: $90k to $120k

Citrix Software Development Engineer

Average: $81,500

Range: $78k to $94k

Acxiom Software Developer

Average: $59,270

Range: $46k to $80k

Sprint/Nextel Applications Developer

Average: $77,719

Range: $56k to $95k

Countrywide Home Loans Software Developer

Average: $92,774

Range: $66k to $110k

Wipro Software Developer

Average: $66,662

Range: $58k to $76k

Cisco Systems Software Developer

Average: $59,667

Range: $45k to $70k

Fidelity Investments Software Developer/Engineer

Average: $62,359

Range: $53k to $73k

Compuware Software Developer

Average: $76,705

Range: $55k to $105k

Intel Applications Developer

Average: $97,600

Range: $80k to $106k

CommVault Software Developer

Average: $86,046

Range: $72k to $102k

SAP Software Developer

Average: $86,001

Range: $71k to $106k

Rackspace Software Developer

Average: $66,553

Range: $46k to $87k

HP Software Development Engineer

Average: $97,718

Range: $76k to $136k

Alcatel-Lucent Software Development Engineer

Average: $84,583

Range: $57k to $110k

Tyco Electronics Development Engineer

Average: $66,567

Range: $52k to $89k

Aetna Applications Developer

Average: $65,126

Range: $61k to $68k

UBS Software Developer

Average: $95,056

Range: $82k to $105k

Nationwide, Specialist, IT Applications Development

Average: $75,445

Range: $68k to $88k

The Vanguard Group Software Developer

Average: $70,223

Range: $53k to $89k

Qwest Staff Software Development Engineer

Average: $112,410

Range: $99k to $126k

KPMG Software Developer

Average: $75,522

Range: $68k to $80k

Expedia Software Development Engineer

Average: $82,683

Range: $70k to $130k

Continued:

Retail Tech -- IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk -- Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant -- Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer -- System Admin Salaries