It is hard to know before joining whether a workplace is a good one or only appears to be. Career growth can seem to depend on an individual’s ability and diligence, but what company someone works for and what support they receive can also be decisive. Whether there are internal promotion opportunities, whether a company invests in training and mentoring, and whether it offers an environment worth staying in can greatly change career quality even in the same role.

On Aug. 10, IT outlet Business Insider introduced the results of an analysis by the nonprofit Burning Glass Institute and the Schultz Family Foundation of 12 million workers’ career histories at 1,750 large U.S. employers from 2019 to 2024.

Based on resume information obtained from LinkedIn and Glassdoor, the Burning Glass Institute and the Schultz Family Foundation assigned scores by job and by company. The criteria were the likelihood of internal promotion within five years after joining, the share who stay at least three years and pay levels.

The analysis showed it is difficult to judge a good workplace by company name alone. Promotion and retention varied widely by job even within the same company. For an average company, the gap between the best and worst roles in promotion and retention reached 81 percentiles. For example, Chanel fashion designers ranked in the 97th percentile nationwide for retention among comparable roles, while project management specialists were in the 16th percentile.

Looking only at technology roles, Amazon and Salesforce stood out. Tech employees at the two companies were assessed as combining high pay, fast promotions and high retention. Salesforce software engineers posted the 97th percentile for promotions, the 98th percentile for retention and the 96th percentile for pay, placing them among the top jobs in the United States. Adobe, Google and Microsoft were also close to the top tier.

Not all Big Tech firms received the same assessment. Apple was strong in pay and retention but had relatively fewer promotion opportunities, while Uber had relatively active promotions but showed difficulty retaining employees. Meta was average on promotions, and retention varied widely by job.

There were also hidden strong performers outside Silicon Valley. Liberty Mutual was not at Big Tech levels on pay, but outperformed many large technology companies in career advancement and long-term retention. For software engineers, the likelihood of promotion was 3.7 times higher than at Meta. USAA, John Deere and Northwestern Mutual also emerged as companies offering stable growth opportunities for tech staff. Mayo Clinic had relatively low pay, but retention for IT project managers and systems analysts reached the 99th percentile.

By contrast, some places were less attractive than their name value suggested. Goldman Sachs software engineers had high pay but fewer promotion opportunities and high turnover. Data scientists also had low promotion and retention. Several technology roles at Deloitte showed similar weaknesses in internal growth and long-term retention.

For tech workers, these differences have become more important than in the past. A few years ago, developers and data scientists could easily change jobs to get higher titles and pay when their careers stalled. Now hiring is slowing and layoffs are recurring. What tech talent wants is not only a flashy brand or high pay, but a stable workplace where they can stay and grow. The analysis showed that such good jobs still exist, but they must be evaluated by role, not by the company as a whole.