Silicon Valley is a technology hub, without a doubt. Almost all the big names in tech have operations here, and many of the start-ups begin here as well. The best company to work for in this area really depends on preference, personal goals, and expertise. Below are only some of the great companies to work for in the area. Click on the company name to visit their Website.

Google

Google is a legendary San Jose area company, with corporate headquarters in the Googleplex in Mountain View. It is known for innovation, green business practices, and community involvement. Also smart engineers. All Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their time on independent projects of their own choosing, and brilliant advances have resulted from this program.

Employees at Google get free lunches and snacks. There are recreational facilities scattered throughout the buildings. Early employees also received stock options that made many of them into young millionaires. Current employees are piling up options too, of course. Fortune Magazine identified Google as the best place in the world to work in 2007, and things have not changed there since.

Google's main business so far is its highly profitable search engine, which cleverly targets advertising, but it is developing interests in many other fields.

eBay

eBay's headquarters are on the San Jose-Campbell border, in the old Greylands tract. eBay did not build its original offices, but remodeled an old building. It has now built a satellite operation in north San Jose, which will be utterly energy efficient, and make the greatest possible use of solar power. This will be the first new building eBay has put up since it began in 1995. eBay employees can be proud about this eco-consciousness as well as feeling satisfied about the huge amounts of reuse and recycling the company promotes.

eBay has operations in over 25 countries worldwide, and thus a global network of employees. eBay online auctions are the company's main revenue source. The PayPal payment system is also a popular and growing revenue source.

Apple

People joke that Cupertino, a city just northwest of San Jose, should be renamed Apple Valley. The company may not own the town, but they have plenty of operations there. Whenever a helicopter is heard overhead, someone may say, "there goes Steve", referring to the living legend, Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple.

From the start, Apple has prided itself on its "flat" rather than hierarchical structure, and on its casual culture. On the other hand, Apple employees work hard. Their corporate environment fosters creativity and drive.

With products like the iPod , iMac, and iPhone, Apple employees have plenty to make them proud.

Intel

Chipmaker Intel is based in Santa Clara, just north of San Jose. Founded in 1968, it has been one of the main drivers of Silicon Valley innovation. Its founders were engineers and physicists, Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore, who had worked together at Fairchild.

No one has an office at Intel, not even the current CEO, Paul Otellini. Everyone works in a cubicle, which emphasizes the equalitarian structure of the company. Intel also promotes from within whenever possible.

The company's main business is designing and creating semiconductor chips, the electronic devices that make computers work. They also manufacture many other devices related to computing. Long known in the engineering community, Intel's fame has spread to the public since the "Intel Inside" advertising campaign.

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett Packard has a worldwide business. It began in a garage in Palo Alto, where two Stanford grads, William Hewlett and David Packard, began to tinker with electronics during the Great Depression. Their first product was an inexpensive oscillator. The company went public in 1957.

The company defines their corporate culture as The HP Way. It might be described as a dedication to responsible innovation, community involvement, and respect for individuals. Beginning with their oscillator, the company has always strived to make inexpensive, reliable, high quality products.

HP sells the most personal computers of any company in the world. They also sell peripherals of all sorts, software, and services.

Conclusion

The companies listed above are only some of the large companies headquartered in the area. There are plenty of other great employers in the San Jose area. IBM, for example, has a campus that includes beautiful hiking trails. They also preserve an orchard, a reminder of San Jose's past. IBM has its headquarters on the east coast. They are also known for community service.

Oracle is another great place to work. Its striking headquarters is up the peninsula, in beautiful surroundings on the bay shore close to San Francisco. Microsoft has a presence in the area too, though its headquarters are in Washington State.

Many local companies are just getting started, bringing innovation to the world, and ground-floor opportunities to new employees. Some of them may fail, but some may become the best San Jose area employers of all.