Also big boring companies tend not to pay very well compared to more modern companies. This is just an anecdote based on my experiences with Disney.

Akamai, HP, IBM... Those are just a few I looked up. I didn't look up the ones you did. But I think you're sort of making my point. Do you believe Dell pays better than at least one or two of the companies I listed?

IBM's pay is abysmal though.

I won't argue that the bigger traditional companies are the highest-paying targets. But, again, top 500 is a big target and I'm skeptical your average small startup is a lot better. But maybe it's just that you probably won't have a job in a year.

I mean, yes? IBM is known for having absolute shit pay for engineers. I don't know anyone who has worked at HP in software either, so I'm not surprised it pays poorly. I've never even heard it brought up.