12. Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS)
> Median annual compensation: $145,000
> Number of employees: 6,100
> Sector: Information technology
> Headquartered: San Jose, CA

Like most of America’s highest-paying companies, Cadence Design Systems is based in California and operates within the tech sector. Specifically, the company helps design and develop tools to build semiconductors. While CEO Lip-Bu Tan had a near-perfect approval rating, only 76% of employees would recommend the company to a friend, one of the lower percentages compared to other high-paying companies. Glassdoor lists a range of jobs at Cadence Design Systems, including technical staff, engineers, consultants, architects, and various management positions. Senior members of the consulting staff and directors were paid the most on average, with some annual salaries exceeding $200,000.

11. VMware (NYSE: VMW)
> Median annual compensation: $145,000
> Number of employees: 18,000
> Sector: Information technology
> Headquartered: Palo Alto, CA

VMware is a provider of virtualization infrastructure solutions, offering its clients software and services that improve data management, security, and cloud computing. Across the technology sector, the demand for highly-skilled workers, such as software engineers, is very high, pushing up wages. In addition, as Chamberlain explained in the interview, these workers often require a great deal of time and resource to train. VMware’s employees, and others like them, are thus extremely valuable assets. The median annual salary for people working at VMware is $145,000, high even by tech sector standards. The company posted revenues of more than $6 billion last year, up substantially from 2013, when total revenue was $5.2 billion.

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10. Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR)
> Median annual compensation: $147,200
> Number of employees: 3,091
> Sector: Computer hardware manufacturing
> Headquartered: San Jose, CA

While Altera is a manufacturing company — the only one among high-paying companies — it is very much tied to the technology sector. Based in San Jose, Altera’s more than 3,000 employees produce semiconductor chips for its approximately 13,000 customers. While company workers earn a median annual salary of $147,200, which is among the highest, the high pay has not guaranteed workplace satisfaction. Unlike many other high-paying companies, Altera had a rating of 3.5 on Glassdoor, only slightly higher than the average. In addition, 61% of employees would recommend the company to a friend, and CEO John Daane had an approval rating of just 66%. Both are lower than other high-paying companies. According to The Wall Street Journal, Intel is in talks to buy Altera — its largest purchase yet.