What Are the Most Prestigious Tech Companies to Work For in 2024?

Bigcos, Startups, and Student Favorites

Where you go to school matters a lot for where you start your career. But after only a few years in the workforce, where you work has more impact on your eventual career prospects than the degree on your resume. 

Company prestige matters a lot.

But a company’s prestige is always changing. Between 1998 - 2002, Yahoo was one of the most popular websites in the world. It was very cool to work there in the late 90s. Today, working there isn’t nearly so cool.

So, which tech companies have the most prestige in 2024?

Top Large Tech Companies

“FAANG” was first coined by Jim Cramer in 2013 and stood for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. There have been quite a few iterations and variations on the acronym, but the idea behind was always to shorten the list of tech companies that drive returns on the S&P 500. 

Eleven years later, and that list looks a bit different. For one, Facebook is now called Meta, Google is now a subsidiary of the Alphabet Corporation, and Netflix failed to grow as quickly as its 2013 peers. Meanwhile, a humble GPU manufacturer, Nvidia, has managed to ride the crypto and AI wave to becoming a top-5 contender. 

Here are the top 5 technology companies in the market today:

Of course, the biggest companies aren’t always the most prestigious, but they are important movers and shakers in the industry. And if you just want to impress your family at Christmas this year, you could do worse than work for a company that everyone knows about. 

Perhaps not coincidentally, this list looks a lot like the one generated when computer science college students were asked to name their top 5 employers last year [source]:

I’m going to put my thumb on the scale a bit and say that Nvidia is more prestigious than Netflix nowadays. If you agree with me and you’re dying for an acronym to replace “FAANG,” my favorite is MAAAN.

So, if you care about working for a household name or think college students know what companies are best, seek out the MAAAN.

Top Startups

Prestige doesn’t just come from working at the biggest and most profitable tech companies. You can learn faster and exercise more autonomy at a startup. 

Any list of the top startups to work for is going to be subjective. Many startups aren’t public and don’t publish financial reports. That means you have to take their claims about team size, profitability, and growth with a pinch of salt. With that said, I think my alma mater, YCombinator, has a pretty good list. 

Here are the top startups that I think are the most prestigious to work for in 2024:

There’s a lot of breadth here: from finance to CRM to delivery to search. And while these companies don’t have the instant name recognition of the biggest companies above, they’re definitionally a great place to learn skills and grow a career.

Where You Work Matters

Company reputations have a real impact on your career, whether you like it or not. Luckily, you can choose where you work and it’s not impossible to land a job at Google or wherever else you want to contribute.

I’ll be writing more about the actual steps you can take to get your dream offer here on Silicon Ladders.