• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, April 1, 2019

The employees at many of the tech companies cited in a report are responsible for bringing in digital ad revenue that eMarketer estimates reaching $333.25 billion worldwide this year -- roughly half of the global ad market. Still more than half of tech workers for some of the major companies like Apple and Google think they’re underpaid, according to recent data.'

Google is forecast to generate $103.73 billion in digital ad revenue this year, followed by Facebook at 67.37 billion, according to eMarketer.

It’s not unheard of for software engineers and other employees in the technology space to make six-figure incomes and receive large signing bonuses. Some search marketers also make a hefty salary.

In March 2019, Blind, which promotes itself as an anonymous social network for the workplace, took a poll of its users. About 10,563 users on the Blind app responded. Overall, 55.8% responded 'True' when asked whether they feel underpaid or paid far less than the value they create for the company and industry.

Blind also broke down the results by companies with at least 100 unique responses from employees.

Uber employees thought they were the most underpaid for the contribution they make, with 60.68% answering True. The top five included LinkedIn at 60.53%, Intel with 59.06%, Adobe with 57.76%, Oracle with 56.13%.

Other notable percentages include Lyft at No. 7 with 55.56%, Apple at No. 8 with 54.39%, Tesla at No. 9 with 54.17%, Microsoft at No. 10 with 52.10%, Amazon at No. 11 with 52.79%, and Google at No. 12 with 48.87%.

Facebook had the lowest percentage of employees who believe they don’t get paid enough compared with what they contribute at 31%.

One user of the Blind platform reveals their salary in a post as he/she contemplates switching company/job: I have an amazingly well paid job (EM) at FB but recently got an offer from a pre IPO company to do some interesting work. Comp is same (~530k). I am looking to take it as I think company has potential but wanted to throw it out there and see what folks would do in this situation. Am I crazy to make this move?

Bind pulls some interesting data from its user base. It boasts about 50,000 employees from Microsoft using its platform; 35,000 from Amazon; 13,500 from Google; 10,500 from Facebook; 9,500 from Uber; 8,000 from Apple; and 6,000 from LinkedIn just to name a few.

Blind also provides insights on other activity among the tech sector. For example, the site links to a report from The Mercury News that 1,200 jobs will be lost by May planned at five companies.

A California Employment Development Department (EDD) filing shows SAP will eliminate 446 jobs. Oracle intends to cut 352 positions. PayPal will cut 183 jobs. Instacart will cut 162 jobs, and Thin Film Electronics will cut about 54.