Technology

Facebook launches open-sourced Spectrum for better mobile image production

Facebook has officially released an open source tool to the developer community to make the process of uploading images more efficient.

Dubbed as “Spectrum”, this tool is a cross-platform image transcoding library that can easily be integrated into an Android or iOS project to efficiently perform common image operations. It aims to improve the reliability and quality of image uploads while reducing image uploading time and mobile data consumption.

“As modern smartphones capture high-resolution images, the large file size makes uploads unreliable on some mobile networks. Sending it at full resolution is often wasteful, as the content delivery network (CDN) will resize the image for the recipient anyway,” said Facebook mobile software engineer Daniel Hugenroth.

“Resizing the image on the sender’s device reduces the bandwidth required to send the image. As a result, the entire pipeline has minimal payload overhead, improving the end-to-end experience. The remaining challenge is how to maintain image quality while benefiting from the smaller file.”

Spectrum uses a “declarative” API that allows developers to focus on the desired output properties instead of the individual steps. It prefers a lossless operation for cropping and rotating JPEG images, while in resizing it “optimizes the interplay between decoder sampling and pixel-perfect resizing.” It also uses C/C++ code for higher performance with Java and Objective-C wrapper APIs to make development easier.

Spectrum integrates with native image compression libraries, including MozJpeg, that allows to control encoding parameters beyond the general-purpose platform APIs. It allows developers to utilize computationally intensive encoding, which requires more processing time but significantly reduces the file size. Additionally, it enables control over more advanced parameters such as chroma subsampling to improve the quality of images with sharp edges and illustrations.

“The consistent API makes these features accessible to developers who are not image experts,” Hugenroth added.

“We hope Spectrum will benefit developers in the same way it has helped Facebook create a better image production experience. In our apps, Spectrum has improved the reliability and quality of image uploads at large scale across our apps. The default integration with Mozilla JPEG allows a reduction of up to 15 percent in upload file size compared with a baseline encoder. We are excited to see how the community uses the Spectrum 1.0.0 library to improve the photo experiences in applications.”

The open source project ‘Spectrum 1.0.0’ is now available on GitHub code repository.

Which programming language is a smart choice to start a career? It’s reasonable to say that you have many options to help you build a prominent future in coding, but some of them are more alluring.

For the past 20 years, three languages have been ruling the programming world: Java, C, and C++. In January, 2019th, Java heads the list of TIOBE Programming Community index (a popularity ranking based on data from 25+ search engines).

Java’s leadership in a long-term competition is driven by several unique benefits:

1. It is easy to learn from scratch. Java is a structured, object-oriented language, comprehensive for beginners without any tech background.
2. It is a multi-purpose language for mobile & desktop software development, Internet of Things, etc. A short while ago Oracle reported, that Java runs on more than 3 billion of different devices.
3. Java is a secure language for enterprise developments. An overwhelming majority of Fortune’s 500 companies choose Java, and the same goes for numerous small and medium businesses.
4. It has a vast and supportive community. Today there are more than 10 millions of Java developers worldwide, and the number is only going to increase.
5. Java developers have high incomes. According to Indeed.com, the average salary of Java developers exceeds $ 100 000 per year.  

To reach a Java Junior level you need at least 3 to 6 months of intense studying with a great share of practice. Probably, each experienced developer will advise you to code every single day to master the skill.

It was much harder to become a programmer twenty years ago when there were only “dull” books to study the subject. Nowadays, there are dozens of online courses and platforms for coding at your disposal, so you have everything it takes to manage a well-balanced education. Today let’s review the features of a source for learning Java with a fresh approach — CodeGym. It is a gamified online platform for learning and practicing Java programming from scratch.

The key idea of CodeGym course is to give the programming experience in Java in an uncommon way and prepare learners for the real job. It works for users even with a zero background in IT. The whole course starts with explaining the simplest concepts, this is why the entry levels might be easy for those who have past experience in programming. But the entertaining concept won’t let you get bored anyway. Here’s the list if its major features.

1. Gamification concept to hold the attention to the very end

A real game instead of thick books and boring lectures — that sounds fun. CodeGym has a futuristic plot. You start a journey from a level 0 with a short prequel. It’s the year 3018: a distant future with traveling across the universe, robots, and aliens. A crew of Galactic Rush crushes on the unknown planet inhabited with “wild robots”. To fix the spaceship and return home, they need help from robots. To get the help, they need to teach them programming. Or at least one: the young robot Amigo. He’s a character you “play” for.

The main goal of the game is to level up the character by reading lectures and solving tasks. In such a way you upgrade your own coding skills from a ground zero to a junior Java developer.

The whole crew teaches Amigo, and each character plays a certain role in his education. A “lecture” covers a certain topic in a conversational format with the real-life examples and a dash of humor. Also, there are plenty of motivational lectures to keep you interested in your learning experience and rewards for successful studying: you will receive some “dark matter” for each task you solve.

2. A structured and well-balanced learning

The whole course is divided into for “quests” that cover the basic concepts of Java. As for today, the first two quests (Syntax, Core) are free for passing, and two more will be available soon.

1. Java Syntax introduces to you Java fundamentals: classes, objects, methods and variables, basic data types, arrays, etc, and teaches how to work in IntelliJ IDEA;
2. Java Core explains the basics of object-oriented programming, streams, serialization, method overloading, interfaces, and multiple inheritance;
3. Java Multithreading brings the understanding of how you can create and stop threads and help you get more experienced in working with Java tools;
4. Java Collections teaches how to use collections and many popular frameworks and tools for real-world programming.

A single quest consists of 10 levels, and each level has 12-13 lessons. Every lesson is dedicated to a certain subject and includes a theory plus a set of tasks to solidify the knowledge.

3. Hundreds of hours of coding

Overall there are more than 1200 tasks in the CodeGym course. There are several types of assignments:

• Writing your solution for a certain task;
• Fixing an existing code to satisfy the requirements;
• Code entry, where you need to repeat precisely a part of the code.

Each task (except code entry) has a list of requirements:

And a tab where a user can write his solution. You don’t start with a plain sheet: the tips are already included in a code block:

You can write your solution in a web version of IDE or use a desktop version. With each level the tasks get more complicated, so inevitably you’ll become confident in utilizing the proper software for coding.

Once you’ve written your solution, click the “Verify” button to get the instant verification of your result:

If your solution is right, it will pass the testing and you’ll see the statistics on the average number of attempts taken by other users and your reward:

Each successful solution brings you a certain number of “dark matter”. You need it to move forward and open further lessons and practice. It means the only way to make progress is to solve all (or almost all) tasks. Some of them are easy, some are tricky and require your full attention, sense of humor and logic, some are complicated and demand a great amount of time to come up with the right solution.

And that’s the main trick: one can’t pass the whole game without dedicating hundreds of hours to coding. Approximately 80% of all the time a student spends on the course he’s busy with coding.

4. Helpful community

CodeGym is a relatively young educational platform for learning Java, and its community is expanding rapidly. The bigger the number of students, the easier it becomes to use one of the major features — a “Help” section.

The “Help” button is placed on the taskbar:

When you click it, the system opens some kind of a “ticket” with your solution. You can ask for help from other students. Those who’ve successfully passed the task will be suggested to give a tip on task solution. When the problem is resolved, it receives a corresponding status and stays in a “Help” section, so other students might review it if they have a common problem:

Conclusion

CodeGym offers comprehensive training for those who want to learn how to code in Java. It can be chosen as a major platform for education and practice. The gamification and engaging pattern of the course will keep you motivated till the end. As a result, you will have hundreds of hours of coding, and that is a very good background for those who want to start a career in programming.

If you run out of storage in your memory cards then this might be the perfect

Recently in CES 2019, Lexar unveiled The Professional 633x SDXC UHS-I ( a memory card with the capacity to store 1 terabyte of photos and videos ).

It was created to store more than 500 hours of video and probably millions of photos.

But, if you can recall, then a few years back SanDisk also demonstrated their first 1TB SD card prototype which never made to Market. This makes the Lexar the first company in the world to launch 1 TB of SD card storage.

Specially designed for midrange DSLRs, HD camcorders, and 3D cameras, Lexar’s new card allows shutterbugs to capture a full-HD 1080p video along with 3D and 4K video recording, with transfer speeds up to 95MB per second.

This will act as a great convenience for consumers who demanded greater storage for their cameras.

The combination of 1TB of storage with a high-performance SD card is expected to cater the need and demands of content creators, who shoot large volumes of high-resolution images and 4K videos.

But of course, all this comes up with a cost worth $500.

You can order it from their official website Lexar.com.

For more such stories, stay tuned with us.

DVD had dominated the home entertainment market for many years. But DVD sales was registered a dramatic decline since 2016 while the subscriptions of streaming services gained more ground.

You are used to watching new movies on Netflix or Hulu. So, what to do with old DVD discs on the shelf? You can convert DVDs. The whole DVD collection, which is saved as digital copies on hard drive or storage services, can be better reserved and played on any device.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum helps digitize DVDs for easily organizing, watching and sharing. It comes with powerful capability of converting virtually all DVDs to digital on Windows while delivering lossless quality. It also gives the most efficient performance to back up DVDs at the fastest speed. It can be a free DVD ripper thanks to the on-going giveaway. Every visitor has the opportunity to download the giveaway package, which includes setup file, license key (no free upgrade) and user guide, and use this best DVD ripper for windows for free.

Full Features of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum

Ease of use

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is a customer-friendly program with a straightforward design. Instead of disturbing information, it prints the getting started guide on the interface. You can have the DVD ripped in only 3 steps: to load DVD > select output format > RUN.

A Wide Range of Inputs and Outputs

All DVDs in your library can be flawlessly converted with WinX DVD Ripper Platinum. It can not only fix and digitize old damage/scratched discs, but decrypt copy protections from latest DVD movies/TV shows, workout DVDs and more. Apart from ripping directly from disc, it also supports other DVD sources like ISO Image, VIDEO_TS folder.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum offers hundreds of output profiles, ranging from general formats to presets for devices, webs and editing programs. It allows you to rip a DVD to MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, FLV, WebM, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Huawei, Nexus, Surface Pro/Book, Xbox, PS3/4, YouTuebe, Facebook, iTunes, iMovie etc. The built-in audio extractor helps extract sound tracks and effects from DVD as MP3, AAC, or AC3. You can also make use of copy modes to back up DVD to ISO Image, VIDEO_TS folder, or MPEG2 at 1:1 ratio with all information.

Fast Speed

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum shows off the fastest DVD ripping speed. Hardware Acceleration is the key technique helping convert DVD as soon as possible. It utilizes graphic cards (with full support of Intel, NVIDIA and AMD) to take the task of encoding and decoding not only accelerating the process but also relieving the burden from CPUs. Therefore, you can get a smooth performance without lags. And, your computer will keep in a good health for low CPU usage and temperature.

Integration with Super Encode Engine and Hyper-threading tech, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can rip a 2-hour movie to MP4 within 10 minutes or even shorter if you run it on a high-end computer.

Super Quality

Hardware Acceleration brings more benefits than fast speed. It works during whole DVD ripping process to create a resulting file with crisp images and hi-fi sound. Besides, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum employs High Quality Engine and “Yadif Double Frames” De-interlacing Engine – which switches interlaced scanning mode of original disc to progressive scan – to further optimize the quality.

Customization Tools

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum offers adjustable parameters for video and audio, including bit rate, frame rate, resolution, aspect ratio, audio sample rate and audio channel. On the other hand, you can make basic edits like trimming, cropping, merging and adding subtitles.

How to Guide:

Step 1. Insert the DVD disc into optical drive on your computer. Launch WinX DVD Ripper Platinum and click “DVD Disc” button. Select the source DVD, leave “DVD Disc File System Type” as “Auto Detect” and click OK.

Step 2. Soon, DVD titles are loaded and main title is automatically checked for later ripping. Meanwhile, Output Profile window pops up. Select the output format. For example, if you try to rip a DVD to H.264, go to General Profiles > MP4 Video (codec: h264 + acc) > OK.

Step 3. Click Browse button to set a destination folder to save resulting file. Next, press RUN button to start DVD conversion.

Other options you might use:

• Settings are accessible by clicking the gear-shaped button. You can keep video/audio options as origin or make changes.
• Edit button drives you to adjust audio volume, add subtitle, trim and crop.
• Hardware Accelerator is enabled by default to get a faster DVD ripping performance.
• Safe Mode is used for avoiding unexpected interruption or other errors if ripping an encrypted DVD.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum offers a perfect solution to fast make digital copies from your DVD collection full of old and new discs. It’s a good chance to take part in the giveaway for experiencing how it works with no cost.

Humanoid robot hit and killed by a self-driving Tesla at CES

A self-driving Tesla Model S hit and “destroyed” an autonomous robot in a car accident in Las Vegas on Sunday night, ahead of Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019.

The incident took place around 7 p.m. in Paradise Road, Las Vegas where the robots called Promobot, were being transported to the Congress Hall by the Promobot engineers to be used in the company’s booth in CES 2019.

For those unaware, Promobot, the company’s new model v4 robots, is a part of a collection of autonomous robots designed for business purposes, which can be rented for $2,000 a day. They perform the functions of administrators, promoters, hostesses, Museum guides, consultants, concierges, and many others.

Although all the robots were moving in a line, one of them missed its way and drove to the roadway of the Congress Hall’s parking lot. Just then, it was hit by a self-driving Tesla car.

The impact of the car pushed the robot aside and it fell down. However, the car continued driving after the accident and stopped only some 50 meters away from the accident site.

The passenger, George Caldera, who was in the car at that time, said that he was trying out the self-driving mode (Full Self-Driving Capability mode) and decided to test it in an empty area.

Caldera said, “There was nobody there, no men, no cars.‘I switched this Tesla into a self-driving mode and it started to move. And wow! A robot on the track! I thought the flivver would come round, but it bumped straightly into it! I am so sorry, the robot looks cute. And my sincere apologies to the engineers.”

The robot suffered some serious damage, as parts of its body, head, arm mechanisms, and movement platform were completely destroyed.

Oleg Kivokurtsev, Promobot’s Development Director said, “Of course we are vexed. We brought this robot here from Philadelphia to participate at CES. Now it neither can participate in the event or be recovered. We will conduct an internal investigation and find out why the robot went to the roadway.”

The incident is currently being investigated by the Nevada Police Department.

GitHub’s free users will now have unlimited access to private repositories

Microsoft-owned GitHub, the largest source-code repository in the world, has announced a GitHub Free plan, which offers users unlimited private repositories for free.

For those unaware, this is GitHub’s first major update since it was officially acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in October last year.

While GitHub always had a free tier that developers can use to store and manage their code, the company, however, charged $7 a month for a private repository.

“For the first time, developers can use GitHub for their private projects with up to three collaborators per repository for free,” the company said in a brief blog post.

“Many developers want to use private repos to apply for a job, work on a side project, or try something out in private before releasing it publicly.

“Starting today, those scenarios, and many more, are possible on GitHub at no cost.”

GitHub Free will give unlimited private repositories with up to three collaborators per repository for free. However, if you need more than three collaborators, you would have to get a paid account, which is now called GitHub Pro. Also, GitHub Enterprise, compromising of GitHub Business Cloud and GitHub Enterprise will be unified into a single plan.

Given below is detailed information of the offerings by GitHub:

• GitHub Free gives you unlimited private repositories with up to three collaborators per repository at no cost—and continued access to unlimited public repositories with unlimited collaborators.
• GitHub Developer is now called GitHub Pro. It includes everything in GitHub Free, unlimited collaborators for private repositories, and advanced code review tools for private and public repositories.
• GitHub Enterprise is the new unified product for Enterprise Cloud (formerly GitHub Business Cloud) and Enterprise Server (formerly GitHub Enterprise). Organizations that want the flexibility to use GitHub in a cloud or self-hosted configuration can now access both at one per-seat price.

Public repositories will continue to remain free and include unlimited collaborators, the company said. The new offering of unlimited private repositories will be an advantage to students and small developers.

Source: GitHub

Raspberry Pi finally receives touchscreen support via Linux 4.21

Raspberry Pi will officially get touchscreen support in the mainline Linux kernel. Google engineer Dmitry Torokhov on Wednesday issued a git pull request that added support for the 7-inch touchscreen monitor with 800 x 480 display in the mainline Linux 4.21 kernel.

Prior to this, touchscreen support was provided either by using customized Linux kernels for distributions like Raspbian, a Debian-based computer operating system for Raspberry Pi devices or by custom kernel patching.

Instead of HDMI, the Raspberry Pi touchscreen connects via the DSI port with power provided via GPIO pins. The touchscreen drivers will support 10-finger touch and other basic features.

With now Raspberry Pi receiving support for the touchscreen, it can be used to make a DIY tablet or any other smart devices that need display. The input changes were seen in the Linux 4.21 kernel with 200+ lines of code input driver, which obtains information from a memory mapped area via the Raspberry Pi firmware.

The 7-inch touchscreen display for Raspberry Pi will allow users to create all-in-one, integrated projects such as tablets, infotainment systems, and embedded projects.

The Raspberry Pi 7-inch touchscreen will cost about $60 USD.

NSA will release a free open source reverse engineering tool ‘GHIDRA’

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) will be releasing a free open source reverse engineering tool for public use in a session at the RSA conference 2019 in San Francisco titled “Come Get Your Free NSA Reverse Engineering Tool!”

For the unaware, NSA has until now officially shared its own software tools only with government agencies, secret services, and other countries.

Dubbed as GHIDRA, the software reverse engineering framework is developed in Java and has a graphical user interface (GUI). It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, in order to use the tool, the system is required to run Java 1.7.

“NSA has developed a software reverse engineering framework known as GHIDRA, which will be demonstrated for the first time at RSAC 2019,” states the RSAConference session description. “An interactive GUI capability enables reverse engineers to leverage an integrated set of features that run on a variety of platforms including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux and supports a variety of processor instruction sets. The GHIDRA platform includes all the features expected in high-end commercial tools, with new and expanded functionality NSA uniquely developed, and will be released for free public use at RSA.”

GHIDRA includes a disassembler that breaks down executable files into assembler code, which in turn can be read and examined by humans. It can be utilized to analyze binary files used by programs, as well as malware, that runs on different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux as well as mobile platforms like Android and iOS.

Spoiler – it's a lot like IDA except slower (written in Java), its best feature is an architecture-agnostic C decompiler (uses a p-code translation layer) – not sure how many architectures the open source release will support. I have a bunch of friends that use it.

— e * v * m (@evm_sec) January 3, 2019

Apparently, the existence of GHIDRA has never officially been a secret, until it was first publicly released by WikiLeaks in CIA Vault 7 leaks in March 2017. Developed back in the early 2000s, the tool has been used extensively ever since, including outside the US and several other law enforcement agencies.

GHIDRA is expected to be released soon on NSA’s open source repository at https://code.nsa.gov/ and also on the associated GitHub account.

The term DevOps references the combined efforts of software developers and information technology operations to speed up how software is developed while still delivering fixes, updates and new product features. The ultimate goal is to build a system that creates the necessary tools based on how the business is growing or changing.

Big Data refers to the huge data piles most organizations have collected and encourages teams to find new and helpful ways to leverage the data to make better products or services.  

Applying DevOps concepts to Big Data can unlock great insights for an organization and help them act on exciting opportunities. Collaboration between developers creating code and analyst who understand algorithms can help provide valuable operational perspective to business leaders. But, marrying the two does present some unique challenges.

The Challenge of Coordinating the Dev with the Op

DevOps operations is a growing movement that essentially combine the activities of developers with that of operational staff.

No longer are software developers just coding and leaving the implementation or delivery to other team members. Likewise, the operational workers aren’t just waiting until the code is written. Program development now sees a collaborative effort from tech minds on both ends of the spectrum.

But the challenges are abundant – why? The specific reason is because many organizations with a large team of both software developers and IT operations staff tend to be huge and coordinating efforts can be challenging. Additionally, analyzing data can be a new skill and asking the wrong questions or pulling the wrong data can lead to an incorrect answer.

Big data means big projects – let the team come together for a more cohesive workflow.

Automate the Process, Produce Better Products

Producing a superior product isn’t just about having the right talent – in many cases, it is about having the right platform for talents to use. This is especially true for big data projects where there can be huge amounts of data.

In order to release software faster and cheaper, more big data companies are now looking to automate their DevOps projects.

For example, cloud platforms designed to support the development of major technologies in all stages of the software lifecycle can support massive workforces, even if they’re distributed. From management of core files to streamlining work under a single system, cloud platforms do a lot. Automating the data going in can help get code built reliability and deployed in a consistent manner.

Workers who are accustomed to using different systems and handling different parts of the product lifecycle can come together more seamlessly on a platform designed to help them all work together.  Pairing massive cloud computing with machine learning, bigger, more complicated computations can be done quickly and accurately.

Cloud automation makes DevOps environments more efficient, with the only challenge being understanding what to automate.

How the DevOps Environment Facilitates Better Use of Data

Let’s say a big data company’s analytics reveal more success with one program over another. In a DevOps automated environment, programmers can use this data to produce better products.

Operational workers can then use this data for their next move, which can in turn present opportunities for more coding innovation, showing how both can facilitate productivity in the other.

These are just some of the advantages of automating workforces in a DevOps culture, and the benefits it can provide to product development.

Top 29 U.S. tech companies to work for in 2019, according to Glassdoor

Glassdoor, the renowned career job site, has released its annual report of 100 best places to work in the U.S. in 2019 under the name “Employees’ Choice Awards.” The compiled list of 100 companies to work for, includes 29 companies that belong to the technology sector.

Organizations were ranked based on employee ratings across several factors, such as overall satisfaction, career opportunities, corporate culture, transparency, compensation and benefits, work-life balance, culture, values, and business outlook.

Based on employees’ reviews, companies received overall ratings on a scale of one to five, with five signifying the most satisfied employees.

It has been a rather tough year for tech big-wigs like Facebook, Google, Tesla, and Salesforce, who were marred with scandals and controversies. As a result, it has hampered their overall ranking, which saw Facebook fall from the first position last year to the seventh overall rank. Also, the search giant, Google dropped down from second overall position to eight overall ranking

While you can check the entire list of Glassdoor here, let’s have a look at the top 29 tech companies to work for in 2019:

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Zoom Video Communications

Overall ranking: #2

Company rating: 4.5

About: Zoom Video Communications provides remote conferencing services using cloud computing.

An employee says: “Honesty, this is the best company I have ever worked for, hands down. Our CEO practices what he preaches with Delivering Happiness. Management is great, no micromanaging, and always willing to help. The sales floor is competitive, but not toxic at all. Everyone is more than happy to help each other. We realize we are all a part of something special right now, and that this should be a team effort.”— Zoom Account Executive (Santa Barbara, California).

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Procore Technologies

Overall ranking: #4

Company rating: 4.5

About: Procore Technologies is a construction project management software company.

An employee says: “From the day I started working at Procore, I’ve felt welcome, engaged, and energized. The work is challenging and fast-paced, but the people and culture make coming to the office something I look forward to every day. Procore truly lives its values of Ownership, Optimism, and Openness.” — Anonymous Procore Employee (Carpinteria, California).

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LinkedIn

Overall ranking: #6

Company rating: 4.5

About: LinkedIn Corporation is a social networking website specifically designed for people in professional jobs and for recruiting professionals.

An employee says: “Linkedin has a very strong emphasis on employee wellness and goes the extra mile to care how employees feel and does everything to make them more productive in their daily work. Linkedin offers best quality food, continuous wellness programs, clear paths to advance careers and everything else necessary for happiness.” — Anonymous LinkedIn Employee (Mountain View, California).

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Facebook

Overall ranking: #7

Company rating: 4.5

About: Facebook is the world’s biggest online social networking service and website.

What employees say: “Learning from great software engineers and/or researchers in AI. Too many political debates inside the company.” — Facebook Research Scientist (New York, New York).

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Google

Overall ranking: #8

Company rating: 4.4

About: Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation that is best known for running one of the largest search engines on the World Wide Web (WWW) and also creates cloud computing, hardware, and software products, and more.

An employee says: “If you’re a software engineer, you’re among the kings of the hill at Google. It’s an engineer-driven company without a doubt (that *is* changing, but it’s still very engineer-focused).” — Google Software Engineer (New York, New York).

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Salesforce

Overall ranking: #11

Company rating: 4.4

About: Salesforce is an American cloud computing company that helps companies manage their sales, marketing, and application programming projects.

An employee says: “Supportive and inclusive environment, clear and reasonable expectations, challenging environment, awesome corporate mission, lots of room and support for professional growth.” — Salesforce Solutions Engineer (Cincinnati, Ohio).

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HubSpot

Overall ranking: #16

Company rating: 4.4

About: HubSpot is a developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing and sales.

An employee says: “I’ve been at HubSpot now for almost 4 years and there’s nowhere else I’ve even thought about working in that time. Why? HubSpot is a great place to work. I feel like I’m valued. I have a lot of autonomy in how and when and where I work. I feel strongly about the mission of the company.” — Anonymous HubSpot Employee (Cambridge, Massachusetts).

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DocuSign

Overall ranking: #17

Company rating: 4.4

About: DocuSign provides electronic signature technology and digital transaction management services for facilitating electronic exchanges of contracts and signed documents.

An employee says: “We’re on a good path with no signs of slowing down and a lot of untapped market potential. This is great news. Because the company is growing fast, there’s a lot of opportunity to grow your career and step up into new roles.” — DocuSign Enterprise Corporate Sales(San Francisco, California).

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Ultimate Software

Overall ranking: #18

Company rating: 4.4

About: Ultimate Software is an American technology company that develops and sells UltiPro, a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution for businesses.

An employee says: “Amazing company. It’s the only payroll / HCM organization that truly cares about the customer – and while it’s not easy – the organization has maintained an amazing culture all in an effort to provide the best support to the customer. I love that.” — Ultimate SDM

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Paylocity

Overall ranking: #20

Company rating: 4.4

About: Paylocity is a provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management software solutions for medium-sized organizations.

An employee says: “Great company culture. People that really believe in what we do, and investment in technology to push the envelope.” — Paylocity Account Executive (Tampa, Florida).

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Fast Enterprises

Overall ranking: #26

Company rating: 4.4

About: Fast Enterprises provides software and information technology consulting services.

An employee says: “Fast, even at the 1000+ size it is, still cares deeply about each and every employee. Their benefits, even the way they help people move, the way they bring individuals AND their spouses/families into the culture, it super impressive and I love that about Fast.” — Fast Enterprises Implementation Consultant (Boston, Massachusetts).

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SAP

Overall ranking: #27

Company rating: 4.4

About: SAP is a multinational software corporation that develops enterprise software to help manage business operations and customer relations.

An employee says: “We have yoga and meditation classes, mindfulness workshops. Many invited guests from technology industries to provides you with information. Leadership women workshops, global coaching, mentoring programs, and flexible work environment.? It is truly a top-notch company that will give back to their employees.”— SAP Manager (Montreal, Québec).

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Adobe

Overall ranking: #30

Company rating: 4.4

About: Adobe Inc. is an American multinational computer software company best known for its design and photo-editing solutions.

An employee says: “Relentless commitment to customer success. This is the core of most day to day decisions and the North Star for all activity. This makes it a place to be proud to work. Incredible products. Amazing benefits and culture that draws incredibly talented individuals.” — Adobe Learning Specialist (San Jose, California).

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Compass

Overall ranking: #32

Company rating: 4.4

About: Real estate agency and platform for buying, selling, and renting a home.

An employee says: “Having recently joined Compass, all I can say about the company, its mission, and the people in it is… ‘simply amazing.’ Compass is a unicorn. It is that rare company that combines passion, focus, execution, vision, and has a heart and a soul.” — Anonymous Compass Employee (San Francisco, California).

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Microsoft

Overall ranking: #34

Company rating: 4.4

About: Microsoft Corporation (MS) is an American multinational technology company that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

An employee says: “Respect for the individual, constant stressing of core cultural values of letting everyone be heard, etc. Decent work/life balance, though it’s hugely dependent on the individual to enforce. Individuals are encouraged to engage with managers at any level (for example with your manager’s manager’s manager…). There’s a general high-level of passion for the products we make.” — Senior Microsoft Electrical Engineer (Redmond, Washington).

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NVIDIA

Overall ranking: #36

Company rating: 4.3

About: Nvidia Corporation designs graphics processing units (GPUs) for the gaming, cryptocurrency, and professional markets, as well as system on a chip units (SoCs) for the mobile computing and automotive market.

An employee says: “I’ll be up front and say that it has always been my dream to work here. With that in mind, I came in telling myself to look at this place as objectively as possible to not cloud my judgement. After working here for over a year, I must say, the hype is real.” — Senior Nvidia Systems Engineer (Santa Clara, California).

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Intuit

Overall ranking: #38

Company rating: 4.3

About: Intuit Inc. is a business and financial software company that develops and sells financial, accounting, and tax preparation software and related services for small businesses, accountants, and individuals.

An employee says: “Incredible company that has market dominance, yet also has so much room to grow. Management constantly preaches disruption, and its reflected in our priorities and work.” — Intuit Data Scientist.

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TaskUs

Overall ranking: #40

Company rating: 4.3

About: TaskUs is a global outsourcing company that provides back-office support and customer care solutions.

An employee says: “Taskus puts their people first, they understand that their people are the ones who make their company! I have gone through many interviews with other companies and Taskus is the first one who truly shows it!” — TaskUs Digital Content Moderator (San Antonio, Texas).

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Cengage

Overall ranking: #41

Company rating: 4.3

About: Cengage is an educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets worldwide.

An employee says: “The leadership of the company has been jaw-droppingly motivated, visionary, and transparent. They have turned a company haunted by downturns in the market into a trendsetter that is adapting profitably. Along the way, they have been committed to employee growth and job satisfaction. I am thrilled with what we are doing for learning.” — Senior Systems Analyst (Rapid City, South Dakota).

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Kronos Incorporated

Overall ranking: #44

Company rating: 4.3

About: HR, payroll, recruiting, and timekeeping software.

An employee says: “The culture is positive. Employees are hard working and care. Leadership cares for employees and their experience. The company also cares for their customers.” — Anonymous Kronos Employee (Denver, Colorado).

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VMware

Overall ranking: #51

Company rating: 4.3

About: VMware, Inc. is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies that provides cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services.

An employee says: “Lots of smart and talented coworkers who are happy to share information you will learn a lot in a short amount of time but are expected to contribute. Slackers need not apply. If you’re a slacker you won’t survive the high stress and fast pace.” — VMware Technical Support (Broomfield, Colorado).

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AppDynamics

Overall ranking: #58

Company rating: 4.3

About: AppDynamics is an application performance management (APM) and IT operations analytics (ITOA) company that focuses on managing the performance and availability of applications across cloud computing environments as well as inside the data center.

An employee says: “Great encouraging and supportive leadership. Promotional opportunities every quarter. Family atmosphere, where everyone has a genuine interest in you as an individual and employee.” — AppDynamics Business Development Representative (Dallas, Texas).

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Paycom

Overall ranking: #62

Company rating: 4.3

About: Paycom is an online payroll and human resource technology provider.

An employee says: “This is honestly the best job I think I’ll ever have. The benefits are amazing and the pay is more than I ever thought I could get. BE WARNED this job is hard. Never in my life have I had so much stress. That’s the reason why it pays so well. Be prepared to be stressed every day and have heavy daily workloads and have new procedures constantly thrown at you from management. But guess what it’s your job so you either adapt or you don’t make it.” — Paycom Specialist (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

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Cisco Systems

Overall ranking: #69

Company rating: 4.3

About: Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology that develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, and other high-technology services and products.

An employee says: “Military Friendly Culture empowers and gives transitioning veterans the opportunity to learn develop self to full potential. As a Military Retiree I feel there could not have been a better company to transition to than Cisco and the leadership team is very understanding and appreciative of what we bring to the table.” — Cisco Program Manager (Austin, Texas).

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Apple

Overall ranking: #71

Company rating: 4.3

About: Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.

An employee says: “The company is AMAZING. There are limitless advancement opportunities. You work with some very cool people and the leadership cares about your development. You may get coaching but you never get battered or belittled.” — Apple At Home Advisor (Lakewood, Colorado).

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NetApp

Overall ranking: #82

Company rating: 4.2

About: NetApp, Inc. is a hybrid cloud data services and data management company that offers hybrid cloud data services for management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments.

An employee says: “Great team chemistry. Interesting work. This company cares about its employees a lot and there are numerous events at work and outside work which show this.” — NetApp HPC Solutions Architect (Sunnyvale, California).

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HP Inc.

Overall ranking: #87

Company rating: 4.2

About: HP Inc. is a provider of a wide variety of hardware components as well as software components.

An employee says: “HP’s global footprint makes it unique in allowing you to have a BIG impact. Senior leaders are quality execs who’ve proven their mettle. Lots of opportunity to contribute given the size of the businesses.” — Anonymous HP Employee.

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Expedia Group

Overall ranking: #92

Company rating: 4.2

About: Expedia Group is an American global travel technology company.

An employee says: “Expedia is the best place to work. I have been here for 11 months and enjoying every single day. The culture is upbeat, leadership is transparent, clear on direction, very well organized process oriented company. Awesome work life balance.” — Expedia Software Engineering Manager (Chicago, Illinois).

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World Wide Technology

Overall ranking: #99

Company rating: 4.2

About: World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) provides technology and supply chain services with a focus on the enterprise commercial, public and telecom service provider sectors. The company provides planning, procurement and deployment of IT products and solution selling.

An employee says: “Bar none, THE BEST place I have ever worked.” — World Wide Technology Senior Consultant (Denver, Colorado).