Bubble or not, tech employees in Silicon Valley seems to be doing pretty well. "Tech-jobs website operator Dice Holdings Inc. said salaries for software and other engineering professionals in California's Silicon Valley rose 5.2% to an average $104,195 last year, outstripping the average 2% increase, to $81,327, in tech-workers' salaries nationwide," according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper cites the hiring spree among both the Valley's start-ups and established firms as driving up salaries. This is the first time that average has broken the six-figure mark, and -- with that 5.2 increase -- is notably much better than what that other high-earning geographic metonym -- Wall Street -- is feeling now. Last Thursday's "bloodbath" of a Bonus Day saw bankers' compensations at places like Goldman Sachs take a hit, though admittedly they're still doing pretty well. And of course Wall Street is helping at least one big Silicon Valley firm, Facebook, go public this year so that both companies' employees earn even more in 2012.

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