The technology companies that pay juniors more than investment banks

Investment banks are engaged in a battle for the top graduate minds with the expansionary tech sector. Forget start-ups, more students and MBAs are gravitating towards large technology firms that can compete on both prestige and pay.

In theory investment banks pay more than any other industry at a graduate level on salary alone. Throw bonuses into the equation and the gap is even bigger. First year analysts in investment banking earned £45k in base salary and an average of £27k as a bonus in 2014, according to recent figures by recruiters Dartmouth Partners. This means an average of £72k during your first year on the job.

However, on base salary alone, you may be better off gravitated towards technology. New figures from pay benchmarking site Emolument.com, which analyse its database of 46,000 individuals, suggest that large tech firms are paying very competitively for their junior recruits and are even outstripping the banking sector.

LinkedIn, particularly, seems like a generous payer to offset what Emolument calls the “glamour” appeal of the likes of Google and Facebook. £61k as an average base salary for new recruits appears very generous indeed, but Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google all pay more on average than investment banks when only salaries are considered.