Conventional wisdom suggests that, if you want to make truly big money as a developer or programmer, you should head to the biggest possible firm. On the surface, such advice makes sense: Who has deeper pockets than Google or Apple, after all? While those big firms might provide job security and some very nice perks (who has a better cafeteria than Google?), they’re not the only ones with money: Startups are shelling out quite a bit for tech talent, recognizing that a 10x developer or a skilled engineer can mean the difference between a company making it to a glorious IPO or going out of business. Check out the latest startup jobs. In late 2014, for example, news leaked that a small startup named Weeby.co was paying its software engineers the princely sum of $250,000 a year plus equity. That salary came tied to some demanding metrics, including monthly performance reviews, but it nonetheless represented a significant bump over what many engineers earn at even large companies. Nor was Weeby.co alone in paying top dollar; in a bid to attract the highest talent, other startups have routinely shelled out six-figure sums. (A flood of VC capital into the startup arena has helped these small firms maintain their hiring sprees.) What does that mean for tech pros? If you’re skilled and possess a broad knowledge base (for example, you have Django, JavaScript, and a bunch of APIs down pat), you might be best served by looking at startups for your next job, rather than the giants. Image: Gonzalo Aragon/Shutterstock.com