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Businesses IT

Best Places To Work In IT 297

Posted by kdawson from the good-gigs dept.
jcatcw writes "Computerworld's annual summary of the best places to work in IT lists companies that excel in five areas of employment: career development, retention, benefits, diversity, and training. According to the scorecard, the top five retention methods are: competitive benefits; competitive salaries; work/life balance; flexible work hours; and tuition reimbursement. Of the top 100 companies, 64 expect the number of U.S.-based IT staffers to increase in 2007, on average by 7%. Here is the whole list. The top three are Quicken Loans, University of Miami, and Sharp HealthCare."
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Best Places To Work In IT

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  • Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @07:32PM (#19559025)
    My company is on the list, top 20 even, and I'm sorry but it's a joke. This is a miserable place to work, with most people answering these things positively because if they don't they get subjected to even worse "morale improvement" exercises.

    • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Frosty Piss ( 770223 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @07:35PM (#19559047)
      Since you posted as "Anonymous Coward" why didn't you share your employer's name with us?

    • Drug surveys (Score:5, Informative)

      by ushering05401 ( 1086795 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @07:50PM (#19559157) Journal
      Kinda like the drug surveys we had to take in high school. They told us that all results would be anonymous... the information was only to help people understand what the 'real deal' was with teens and drugs. Then two weeks later all the kids who believed them got their lockers raided.

      Regards.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by SunTzuWarmaster ( 930093 )
        Those were for real? I always answered that I did lots of drugs... my immature humor thought it was funnier that way.

        • Re:Drug surveys (Score:5, Informative)

          by ushering05401 ( 1086795 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:13PM (#19559331) Journal
          They were for real. My ass was saved by a 2600 reader who knew I was into code.

          Your name was not required on the form, but the teachers issued specific instructions about how to hand the forms forward, but only *after* we had finished filling them out (my school had seating charts for every class). All of the forms were to be handed forward with the student in front placing their form on top of the student in back. Why should that have mattered if the results were to be anonymous?

          I thought I was fucked after I heard that. Then I got a whap on the back of the head in the hallway after class. It was the kid who sat in front of me. He called me a fuck-wad and told me he had scratched the shit out of my form.

          Other kids got expelled for telling the truth.

          After word got around they discontinued the surveys and just brought in drug sniffing dogs. Yes, I was in one of *those* school districts. Too much cash and too little brains.

          Regards.

          • Re:Drug surveys (Score:5, Informative)

            by Jah-Wren Ryel ( 80510 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:29PM (#19559431)
            Seems like it was probably the most important lesson of your school years - don't trust anyone with institutional authority, if it can, it will be abused.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by bladesjester ( 774793 )
            Your name was not required on the form, but the teachers issued specific instructions about how to hand the forms forward,

            That's when you "accidently" drop the forms on the floor, scattering them.

        • Re:Drug surveys (Score:4, Funny)

          by BigDogCH ( 760290 ) on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @07:59AM (#19563799) Journal
          Yeah, our whole class found it quite fun to say that we smoked weed 2-3x per week, and drank pretty much every day. It should have been obvious we were lying given the amount of coke we claimed to have used (we were poor). I am quite sure that everyone in our class had fun with those surveys.........though now I know why the dare program was pushed so hard right afterwards. We had an entire DARE class, taking up an entire hour of our already watered down school day. DARE = Drug Abuse Resistance Education......and it is really lame.

          LOCAL COP: Let me summarize DARE for those of you who never suffered through it.
          Hi kids, here is a list of drugs that you should never do, never try, and squeal on anyone who offers them or uses them. Here is a list of drugs that are just as dangerous, addictive, and harmful, but they are OK to take if your doctor suggests you use them.
          THAT ONE KID IN EACH CLASS THAT THINKS ON THEIR OWN: How can we have a list of legal and illegal drugs, when both have similar lists of positive and negative results? And why is alcohol legal, when it clearly kills more people than the rest? Aren't more people killed each year by legal drugs than illegal ones?
          LOCAL COP: Quiet you! Just say NO damn-it! Have a sticker.....and eat your Ritalin!

          Hmmm, now maybe we know why the average American is popping prescription drugs like tic-tacs?

    • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Null Nihils ( 965047 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:30PM (#19559445) Journal
      Monsanto [wikipedia.org] was on there at #27. Monsanto are the people that patent genes, have lobbied to have certain legislation [blogspot.com]* added to the new Iraq constitution, have engineered plants that are sterile and can't be replanted so people have to keep buying new seeds... that's not even the half of it, and lets not even get started on their history of litigation.

      Once I saw them on there, I promptly closed the browser tab.


      * Note: the article I linked came at the top of the Google search, but it may not be the most correct or objective.

      • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by twiddlingbits ( 707452 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:18PM (#19559859)
        you may not like the things they make but how does that invalidate they may have a Great IT department that people actually ENJOY working at? That's really really bad logic.
        • Think about this survey for a moment: Verizon Wireless was rated number fucking 14. Anyone ever have to deal with anyone at Verizon? This survey is bogus.
          • I agree it's a questionable survey but that doesn't excuse his faulty logic. I know none of the IT companies I have worked for would make the top100.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by compro01 ( 777531 )
            just because they're a pain to deal with from the outside doesn't mean it isn't fun from the inside (can't you imagine how entertaining it is to be able to be an asshole to people 8 hours a day?)

        • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:4, Funny)

          by Null Nihils ( 965047 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @11:17PM (#19560883) Journal
          I'm sorry, but I wouldn't enjoy working for a company like that.

          But then again, I don't kill kittens for fun in my spare time.

          Reminds me of a scene from Clerks [slashdot.org]:

          Blue-Collar Man: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but what were you talking about?
          Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
          Dante: My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.
          Blue-Collar Man: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer... (digs into pocket and produces business card) Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements. And speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs.
          Randal: Like when?
          Blue-Collar Man: Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was.
          Dante: Whose house was it?
          Blue-Collar Man: Dominick Bambino's.
          Randal: "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?
          Blue-Collar Man: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine.
          Dante: Based on personal politics.
          Blue-Collar Man: Right. And that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling.
          Randal: No way!
          Blue-Collar Man: (paying for coffee) I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. (pauses to reflect) You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to this... (taps his heart) not his wallet.

      • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

        by Frankie70 ( 803801 )

        Monsanto are the people that patent genes, have lobbied to have certain legislation* added to the new Iraq constitution, have engineered plants that are sterile and can't be replanted so people have to keep buying new seeds... that's not even the half of it, and lets not even get started on their history of litigation.
        Once I saw them on there, I promptly closed the browser tab.


        Why can't company who have done all those things, be a good
        employer?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by wikinerd ( 809585 )
          If a company doesn't treat its customers well, there is a good chance that its employees will suffer as well.
      • This wasn't an ethics survey.

    • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mrbooze ( 49713 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:34PM (#19559465)
      Amusingly, there is a point to be made here. Unrelated to this survey, but at my own company we have regular employee satisfaction surveys, and the inevitable result is that whatever areas on the survey are considered to be low-scoring, the company response is to implement new policies, training, or processes that are far more annoying than any perceived complaints before.

      For example, a common complaint is "feedback", some employees feel they don't get enough feedback. First, this is incredibly ambiguous as to what this really means or if it's even really true that employees don't get enough feedback, even if some think they don't. Second, it's very possible that even if "feedback" is the lowest score on the survey, it still is easily high enough to suggest that 80+% of the employees don't consider it a problem.

      And yet, in that special MBA approach to things, whatever the lowest score is must be a problem to be focussed on. So the company keeps implementing increasingly onerous mandatory review and feedback processes. At this point we now have twice yearly reviews of personal goals, yearly 360 reviews, yearly "official" reviews from our manager. At least three "all-hands" quarterly meetings every quarter. It sometimes seems that you can't get any actual work done because of all mandatory "Let's make everyone happier" procedures that keep coming up. And many of these things are not even cheap! I've been told that 360 Reviews, for example, are actually fairly expensive.

      • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:4, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:55PM (#19559669)
        Sounds like where I work, which happens to ALSO be on this list, and ALSO in the top 20.

        My favorite part of the survey that apparently scored low in my sections was "I have a best friend at work".

        Apparently not enough people had a "best friend". So we were basically told that, should the question appear on the survey again, to please lower our standard for "best friend". Really.
      • 360 reviews are NOT expensive and they DO work. Just make sure you are truly anonymous. I got in deep sh*t about one where I slammed my manager. They dug thru the MS-Word file and found the initials I used when I installed Word and traced it back. All-hands meetings can be good and bad. They should take 1-2 hours max. Yearly official reviews are pretty standard, as are mid-year progress reviews. I think it helps to know where you stand with your Management.

    • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by StarvingSE ( 875139 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:37PM (#19559499)
      This is truly another Survey of Dubious Quality (tm). If they wanted to take real measurements of retention and employee satisfaction, they would ask the top 1% of the talent at said companies. Why is Google, Microsoft, IBM, and all the other big players in the industry? Not a single one is on the list, yet they continue to attract, hire, and keep the best talent.

      There is no way job at Quicken Loans is better than Google or Microsoft by any stretch of the imagination.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Architect_sasyr ( 938685 )

        There is no way job at Quicken Loans is better than Google or Microsoft by any stretch of the imagination.
        Accurate and insightful... my bet is that the people at Google or Microsoft are too busy making new products / putting out fires to take surveys like this.
        • They do answer polls like that. Google is #1 in the "Great Places to Work" and they are fond of it and mention it "we are the best company to watch for". So no. You are wrong. :-) They do care.

      • Re:Do people take these seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rossz ( 67331 ) <ogre@@@geekbiker...net> on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:31PM (#19559973) Journal
        Since Google was rated the #1 company to work for by Fortune, they only explanation for their complete absence in the Computerworld survey is Google's failure to purchase a full page ad in this months issue of the magazine.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by etnu ( 957152 )
        That's because this was a survey for "IT people". This means system admins and other menial technology related fields. It doesn't mean "Engineering" or the like.

      • Survey says: 80% of software engineers... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by patio11 ( 857072 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @11:19PM (#19560907)
        ... believe they are in the top 1% of the talent at their company.

        For what its worth, I'm in the other 20%. I have no illusions that I am the best hacker I've ever met, or even the 47th best. I produce code which, on a great day, has bits of brilliance, on a good day, is solid and worksmanlike, and on a bad day is junk which I'll have to replace the next day... just like almost every other programmer I have ever met.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tweakt ( 325224 ) *
      Agreed. Total joke.

      People answering overly positive on these are doing more harm than good to their company...
      My company ended up on this list and I was shocked to say the least.

      "The beatings will continue until morale improves!"

  • Somethings wrong... (Score:5, Funny)

    by egoproxy ( 1114835 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @07:45PM (#19559123) Homepage
    I was expecting to see Computerworld in that list.

  • The list skews to larger corporations (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hellfire ( 86129 ) <deviladv AT gmail DOT com> on Monday June 18, 2007 @07:53PM (#19559183) Homepage
    Frankly, I've always enjoyed in smaller companies, because the beauracracy is far less annoying and you can be more personable with the people in the company. They never really include those companies, because if they actually tried, they'd have thousands of companies to interview and it would take too much time. But if they really wanted a list that made sense they'd include smaller businesses. Expand the definition a little more and stop making such a big deal about being a huge corporation.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by FraterNLST ( 922749 )
      I used to agree, but it seems to depend on the businesses themselves. I used to work at a big comapany that felt like a small one because of the immaturity of its it department (they had only just moved from total outsourcing) and it was great fun at first. As it got bigger and tried to be more "corporate" then things went really downhill.

      However I've also worked at a smaller company that was awful to work for. The manager cared about nothing but the bottom line, employees who tried to leave were threate

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anrego ( 830717 )
      I find that while smaller companies can have some major advantages, they also have some major disadvantages.

      Probably the biggest disadvantage in my opinion is the lack of opportunity for advancement. If you _are_ the software development department... there really isn't a whole lot of room for career growth.

      And while some people list bureaucracy and excessive policies as one of the major disadvantages of a larger company, I find that sometimes having a standard method of doing everything kind of comforting.

  • Quickenloans (Score:5, Funny)

    by z-man ( 103297 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:01PM (#19559245)
    From TFA:
    Why it's the best
    "Celebration galas at this online loan company are star-studded: Kid Rock performed at the 2006 holiday gala and The Black Eyed Peas were featured performers at the company's 20th anniversary party."

    Judging by that line-up of artists I wouldn't even want to work in an adjacent area!

  • The 0th best place to work (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:06PM (#19559275)
    On the beach, with my laptop, sipping a Corona, watching the babes.

    And then I woke up.

  • Nothing on that list for me... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tomy ( 34647 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:07PM (#19559283)
    Maybe my standards are different, but the companies on that list don't seem very interesting.

    It reminds me many years ago ('97) when I and a coworker decided we had had enough of the company we were working for, and decided to make a top ten list of companies we wanted to work for. Both of us landed jobs with our number one choice, but our top ten lists were very different. Mine was a list of coolest companies to work for, and mostly startups (Cygnus Solutions being at the top of my list), and his were more "nicest" companies to work for (SAS being at the top of his list, they have a 35 hour work week, pianist in the cafeteria, gyms, etc).

    Perks are great and all, but if the work is not intellectually challenging, or just patience-challenging, and I'm not pushing the envelope, I'm going to be bored out of my skull and not improving my skills, which is a terrible way to spend almost one third of your life.

    Exactly what groundbreaking technologies are being developed at a loan website, besides finding new ways to get past my spam filters?

    • Re:Nothing on that list for me... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:24PM (#19559397)
      The only perk and benefit I want is more money. Don't try and distract me from shitty pay that has been artificially reduced by unfair injection into the workforce by foreign labor by paying me less and giving me a gym membership. Just give me more fucking money. I'm there to work. In exchange for money. It's not a fucking barter system and I'm not in kindergarten.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tomy ( 34647 )
        If I had mod points, I would mod you up. Only area I can't agree with you is in the area of health insurance. Unfortunately companies can get a better deal than the individual. But you're right, if a company is paying for perks that I don't use, it's still coming out of my pocket. Just give me the damn money and I will buy my own perks.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by gatesvp ( 957062 )

        Actually, it is a fucking barter system. You have time and skills, and they trade you currency for some combination of those. Part of the deal is them trying to give you deals where they can trade you value for less dollars than it would cost you for that same value.

        Now admitedly, the gym membership may seem like a flaky waste of money, but in the same respect so would parking spots or healthcare or dentalcare or "visioncare". How about 401k (or RRSP) matching plans? You may want more money, but if you're

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jafac ( 1449 )
        YES.

        Last job I left;
        In my exit interview, they asked why I left, what they could do (and could they offer me more money).

        I told them that for the past 3 years, I have continually brought up the issue to my supervisors, that I need more money. Yes; I made some shitty decisions and overextended myself in certain areas - but the bottom line is, it costs x dollars to live in this area. And they just don't pay that.

        Every single time I brought it up, they wheeled out the charts and stats that said that people a

    • Re:Nothing on that list for me... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Bucc5062 ( 856482 ) <bucc5062@nOsPaM.gmail.com> on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:43PM (#19559553)
      there comes a point where one discovers that a job is a means to an end, and not the means. I used to live for the next project, the cool new "thing". If you work in corporate USA that moment is so rare is is better to try for the lottery. Find somethng outside of work and life for that. Company X, the best place in the world to work, will can your ass the moment the numbers do not add up for keeping you.

      Start up a company and one day you'll experience the moment when you need to "downsize" and those that had the rose colored glasses will get them stripped off their eyes.

      I've spent 28 years in the IT industry, from mainframes, to minis, to Client Server, and what I have learned the most is that the love of a woman far outways a fucking promotion, the joy of doing something you enjoy far outways making the boss happy on Sunday fucking afternoon, that taking time for ones self has a better life expectancy then dieng a slow death for the fucking "Company".

      Best places to work for? I had two and they got sold, chewed up and turned into shit holes, so please stop thinking that dragging you're ass to a cube every day, even if they had piano playing in the lobby is going to bring some sort of satisfaction in life. Google is no better no worse then the sweat shop in china. They just give you shinier trinkets to distract you.

      Six months ago I rescued a horse from possible auction to slaughter. Today she is healthy, happy, and helping me learn to ride. The job helps me help her have a better life. That is more real, more a sense of accomplishment then pleasing some exec in an irovy tower. Piano bars, flex time, treats tossed from on high as our mouths hang open...slight of hand. To quote Mr Heston "Soylent green is Man"... Better to live outside of the job then think it will define you.

      There is not best place to work other then that which fills the soul, and makes us feel like we did goo that day. a janitor may be a king compared to most IT professionals.
      • I work at a glue factory you insensitive clod!

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by JNighthawk ( 769575 )
        Yay for bitterness!

        I'm sorry. I *enjoy* what I do and would be doing it in my spare time if I weren't being paid to do it. I work for a THQ studio (Volition) as a game programmer. I don't know if working at a game studio owned by THQ would be classified as corporate (THQ is *huge*, though).

        So far, I've spent about 4 months in the industry and I've loved it.

        My job is both the means and the end.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by gatesvp ( 957062 )

        So why the hell are you not doing what you love everyday? Why do you spend your days doing stuff that doesn't fill the soul? If you really love your horse, then why don't you become a professional horse trainer? Then you can spend time with her everyday.

        Sure your current job allows you to "help her have a better life.", but that doesn't mean that you couldn't give her a better life while doing something that "fills the soul". I mean, it's great to hear nuggets of wisdom like this one: "Company X, the best

  • PFFT (Score:4, Informative)

    by yamamushi ( 903955 ) <yamamushi@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:07PM (#19559285) Homepage
    USAA Is on the list, and its considered one of the WORST places to work. My Company was voted #1 place to work in San Antonio, OVER USAA, and guess what? We're a TECH company (Rackspace Managed Hosting). I'm glad I don't base my career choices off of lists like these.
  • Two industries not traditionally bound towards cost containment and heavily tilted towards less than parity salaries. So basically the best place to work is one that has lots of money and doesn't spend it on salaries. There sure as hell better be other perks.

  • Noticeably Absent... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by EtherAlchemist ( 789180 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:20PM (#19559373)

    ...Google. Weird. I really expected to see them.

    • ...Google. Weird. I really expected to see them.
      These "surveys" are just PR for the HR departments. They have little objective reality. My impression is that Google has no problems hiring enough of the drone-level people who are fooled by these things. The people that Google does have to put some effort into recruiting are probably the type to figure things out on their own anyway.

    • Re:Noticeably Absent... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Odo ( 109839 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:42PM (#19559541)
      I work for Google, and I gotta tell you, it's a pain to have to research an answer and type up a page of results within 0.17 seconds of a user hitting the Search button. Someone help!

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by pyro_peter_911 ( 447333 )

        I work for Google, and I gotta tell you, it's a pain to have to research an answer and type up a page of results within 0.17 seconds of a user hitting the Search button. Someone help!

        Have you tried a Dvorak keyboard? They're supposed to be faster.

        Hope this helps.

        Peter

    • Is this just because they were the obvious winner... just like emacs vs vi in the best flamewar poll.
    • Companies decide whether or not to participate in these types of surveys. It wouldn't suprise me if Google didn't want to play the games.

      • Companies decide whether or not to participate in these types of surveys.

        Companies that are asked to participate can choose, sure, it's not something they apply for, and not everyone asked is actually considered (so yeah, I guess I may have answered myself here).
        An interesting side note, my company was asked to participate in this (HR asked us to visit a survey site and fill it out) a little more than a week ago.

        I don't know how much actual analysis was actually done, but that seems kinda short to m
  • Are Oracle DBA positions still high-paying and in demand? I was thinking about getting OCP, but have been away from it a while and can't tell if it's worth pursuing. Can anyone provide some insight?

    Appreciatively,

    Seth

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shados ( 741919 )
      Yes and yes. Its not as high demand as some other IT jobs that are exploding lately, but once you nail a Oracle DBA job, you're rolling on gold still. The only issue is that considering the cost of an Oracle install, on top of the DBA, everyone who pays the bills will be wishing you're dead. But until you are, you'll be raking in.
      • No Wonder my friend was able to afford a Lexus while i had to make do with a Toyota Camry (2005).
        Damn you Oracle: Why don;t you be a Microsoft and make it easier for novices to install a database instead of demanding a DBA do that...
    • I think there are a good number of decent dba jobs out there - the ocp part, I don't know. I think most places are more interested in experience than just the cert. It is painfully easy to get an ocp without having much of a clue.
  • I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 25 years before retiring and starting my own computer repair business. I saw this company go from the best to the worst in that quarter of a century. I was one of the lucky ones and got something from them before they imploded; a mire shadow of once an industry giant. The last several years were tough, but by then I had too much of my career invested to leave voluntarily. I am much happier now that I can dance to my own tunes.

  • #17, Philip Morris (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dystopian Rebel ( 714995 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:29PM (#19559433) Journal
    I hear that one of the perqs at Philip Morris is free smokes for the whole family.

    • Re:#17, Philip Morris (Score:5, Informative)

      by GreggBz ( 777373 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:34PM (#19560015) Homepage
      I used to work at Altria. No smokes for the whole family, only for you the employee. You scanned your badge in front of a giant vending machine with every brand they made, selected what you wanted, and out popped your ciggies, one pack a day. Also, you could smoke in your cubicle after 5pm and before 8am. Everything was nice to, like brass fixtures in the mens room and giant leather couches everywhere. Total IBM shop, only the best and most expensive.

      It was a very nice atmosphere to work in, relaxed and just challenging enough. No one made any apologies for being in the tobacco business. They had a cafeteria like a five star restaurant, with humorously extravagant meals each day; really I barely functioned after lunch. And a company store were you could get all sorts of Kraft food goodies at ridiculesly low prices. Oh, and heated sidewalks, lol.

    • Not so much for the whole family, but definitely for the employee. This tradition was started during the start of the companies because it was cheaper for the company to give it away for free than to have it be subjected to a loss as employees on the line stole cigarettes.
    • You're mistaken. The free smokes are only for employees' children.

  • Really? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wiarumas ( 919682 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:30PM (#19559437)
    "...top five retention methods are: competitive benefits; competitive salaries; work/life balance; flexible work hours; and tuition reimbursement"

    Free World of Warcraft gold is conspicuously missing from the list.

  • How these surveys traditionally work... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:31PM (#19559453)

    Hi, we'd like to consider you for our "n best places in X to work."

    For a single fee of $5,000, we will investigate your employees opinions of the company. We're limiting the number of companies we're accepting to n so you can be sure of a place within the top n.

    For a single fee of $10,000, we will carry out a more in depth analysis of the company. In this higher tier, we're limiting it to only 0.5n entries. We're confident a more in depth analysis will reveal greater strengths of the company, ensuring it a place in the top 0.5n.

    For a fee of $25,000, we will additionally listen to executive feedback about your company. This gives us a greater insight in to your company. Whilst it would be unethical to promise a slot in the top 0.2n, this option is strictly limited and it is certainly very likely.

    Finally, for a fee of $50,000, we will send someone to your offices to gather employee feedback. Only 0.1n companies will be accepted for this most rigorous of investigations. Again, we would never imply that buying such an in depth examination would guarantee a slot in the top 0.1n but it would certainly be a very good investment.
    Amazingly, those who cough up the highest fee get to put on their ads that they're in the top 10 places in their field to work. Whilst there's absolutely no way *wink*wink* that they could buy such standing, the thorough level of investigation they so kindly covered the costs for ensured that their best features came out and that really helped with the win.

    This is also exactly how ClearChannel is rumored to get around "payola" claims. Instead of paying to play - which is illegal - music companies buy listener review sessions. It's pure coincidence that those who buy the most get the most airtime.

  • Start a business (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The best place to work is your own, start a business.

  • I think I found a new correlation... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ignignokt_the_dead ( 1117213 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:39PM (#19559521)
    I'm a top-tier UNIX support guy that supports a bunch of these IT groups in the list. We save their bacon when they have a "senior" moment and screw the pooch. Or our software breaks or fails. In that theater, everyone gets to earn their bones. You get to know "organizations" instead of individuals, because you are an outsider. You never get just one guy on the phone, crying in his mountain dew. The "system" may have from 3 to as many as 20 heads, all siloed in their perfect knowledge of "how it's supposed to work". This may be the first time some of them have met. On the field of desperation. The help you HAVE to provide a customer like this tells much about what they really know about "How it works". The list almost seems an upside-down chart of my most "clueless" customers to more and more competent. Really. It scared me. To Know that IT nirvana is inversely proportional to operational competence. And now somebody wants me to think that's good? My head exploded. Ya wanna know what scared me more? I was quizzed by the same rating company (ramdomly?) last week at MY company. I'm REALLY hoping this ain't a trend. It's too many years till retirement :(
  • After being with several corporations from small local companies to fortune 500, I have found the best place to work in IT is on your own. Make some business cards, invest in a van or other vehicle with room for parts, build an overhead of replacement parts and supplies, then hit the pavement and get the word out. Signage on a vehicle can be a good way to get the word out as well. I get most of my customers via word of mouth but have more work than I can handle most of the time. What I cant handle I pass on to others I know doing the same thing. Clients are happy because they get individual attention and someone to call that they can depend on. I am happy because they treat me like im really helping them rather than as some flunky who is beneath them. The money is much better than the average IT job and with the occasional unavoidable emergency, I pretty much set my own hours. It's not for everyone, you have to be self motivated, people friendly and confident in your skills, but its well worth it.

  • Bullshit list (Score:3, Insightful)

    by r_jensen11 ( 598210 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @08:47PM (#19559585)
    I'm all for Minneapolis, but honestly, how the hell does General Mills get on the list for Minneapolis, but they exclude other companies like Seagate? Where the hell is Honeywell? And what does General Mills do that qualifies as IT? I would imagine the Mayo Clinic would be more IT than GM, and much of a better place at that, and that's not on the list? Who's willing to place bets that these are companies that the authors' friends and families work at?

    • I would imagine the Mayo Clinic would be more IT than GM, and much of a better place at that, and that's not on the list?
      That may have something to do with the hour-long commute.

  • obvious claptrap (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Kooshman ( 248753 )
    This is obviously a thinly researched fluff piece, considering it doesn't have National Instruments mentioned anywhere. It's been on the Forbes best 100 places to work list for eight years running. It's happy to send its employees to the University of Texas for additional education, and actively encourages its employees to move around within the company.

  • No Google? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by humblecoder ( 472099 )
    It is interesting that Google did not make the list. Google is always held up as being the best company to work for, if you believe geek lore. They are the pinnacle of the "nerf guns in the office" culture that was heralded in by the dotcom bubble. However, there are nowhere to be found...

    Either something is wrong with that survey, or Google isn't as good as advertised.

    I also don't see Microsoft on the list. Love em or hate em, they are also considered to be a top geek employer. I guess it might be bec

  • Quicken CEO & Cavs... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by southpolesammy ( 150094 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:02PM (#19559717) Journal
    I know many (most?) Slashdotters don't follow sports to any large degree, however this one jumped out at me. From within TFA:

    [Quicken Loans] founder Dan Gilbert, who also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, invites employees to travel to Cleveland to see the team in action via the Cavs Express.

    Ummm....the company is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan -- big-time Detroit Pistons territory. Might as well offer your employees tickets to see the Ohio State Buckeyes or Chicago Bulls -- equally hated rivals of Michigan sports fans...

    [ObDisclaimer -- I'm a big Ohio State fan...give me the tickets!]
  • I'm pretty sure my company was on the list last year... but not this year. Too bad, we got free ice cream and an hour out in the sun. Yep, in the 50's last year... dang you ComputerWorld for taking away my ice cream!!!

  • Best place to work in IT (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MrCopilot ( 871878 ) on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:10PM (#19559795) Homepage Journal
    Home.

  • The White House (Score:4, Funny)

    by ring-eldest ( 866342 ) <ring_eldest@NOSPAM.hotmail.com> on Monday June 18, 2007 @09:31PM (#19559971)
    The current administration provides the best IT jobs... All you have to do is delete a few emails a day!

  • What they're not accounting... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I work for a top-tier IT consulting firm, and while my company's not on the list (but all of our competitors, except our nemesis, IBM, made the list), I've actually worked on client projects in nine of the companies on the list. Save for one of the companies, I could not believe that these were the best IT companies to work for. Then I re-read the criteria -- competitive salaries, work/life balance, flexible work hours, and tuition reimbursement -- then it all made sense. A lot of these companies are whe

  • How about joy? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cryfreedomlove ( 929828 ) on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @12:07AM (#19561209)
    I'm sorry, but the most important ranking criteria is missing. How about working on a product that, in itself, gives you joy? Let's face facts. Most of us spend the best part of waking hours, at least 5 of 7 days per week, pouring all available energy into this job. If you don't love it and you don't have an emotional alignment with the product then that effort is unhealthy for you.
  • Yes I know this about companies and great working environments, but isn't one of the great joys of I.T. the daily challenges that you have to face? Geeks want to learn new geeky things, for many of us it is why we do the job we have chosen. If an employer can't provide the challenges you need to get your daily fix then all a trays of blue M&Ms in the world won't fix that.

    I was getting those challenges for many years for a good company back in the UK, they also treated us pretty well. But problems/projec
  • Why should any competent programmer out there aspire to become an employee making a businessperson more rich? I am self-employed and I strongly encourage anyone having the abilities to seek starting up their own businesses. It worths the effort. It's much better to own a small business from being employed in a company.

  • Ah, shuddup (Score:3, Funny)

    by bryan1945 ( 301828 ) on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @03:51AM (#19562425) Journal
    At least ya all got jobs.

    Cranky guy

  • Define IT (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jshriverWVU ( 810740 ) on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @11:15AM (#19566111)
    When I started college there was Computer Science who where mainly programmers dealing with the soft side of the spectrum, and computer engineers that dealt with the hard side.

    Seems around 2000/2001 the term IT came about. What is it? I'm amazed Google wasn't #1, but I'm guessing it's more of a Computer Science company rather than IT. At least around here IT tends to mean networking, maintenance, basically to keep systems running without actually creating any software or hardware that does the jobs. So it IT == computer maintenance person?

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