Latest Headlines

Popular in Technology

Videos

» More

Tech Data: What's Moving

» More

Slideshows

How Big Is Apple?
How much could Apple buy and what else is worth $500 billion?
Who Are Facebook's Investors?
Meet the angels, venture capitalists, and global investors who have made big bets on Facebook.
Where New Tech Titans Live
See the homes of tech's top performers like Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker and more.
Inside Facebook Headquarters
Take a look into Facebook’s new Menlo Park campus, where 2,000 employees report to work each day.
The 10 Biggest Internet IPOs
How would a Facebook IPO stack up against other Internet-related IPOs?

Technology Editor

Cadie Thompson
Editor of CNBC.com's Tech Section, always plugged in and yet also wireless.

Contributors

Julia Boorstin
CNBC Correspondent
Jon Fortt
CNBC Reporter

Got A Tip?

Email:

Cadie Thompson's Favorite Links

» Help

Mark Zuckerberg versus Jamie Dimon, Who's More Iconic?

Published: Tuesday, 14 Feb 2012 | 2:08 PM ET

Text Size

By: Jane Wells
Correspondent

"Greed is good" is out.

"Don't be Evil" is in.

Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg

America's young people, tomorrow's economic engine, are deciding which icons of success to follow, and their gaze has shifted from east to west.

While MBAs, engineers and other fortune hunters once sought wealth on Wall Street (where the pay can still be higher), they're increasingly more interested in striking it rich in Silicon Valley.

"Everything's converging and heading in that direction," says Raul Meza, a student at California Lutheran University. "So I think it's a safer bet."

A survey of 6,700 early career professionals last fall shows that one in five would like to work at Google [GOOG Loading... () ], making it the most popular professional destination. Apple [AAPL Loading... () ] came in second with 13 percent of the vote, followed by Facebook at nine percent. The most popular bank? J.P. Morgan [JPM Loading... () ], way down in 41st place, with a little over two percent of the vote.

"It just seems like the market is really volatile right now," says student Nicholas Simpson, who also prefers tech to finance as a career path. When asked "Who would you rather be, Jamie Dimon or Mark Zuckerberg?", every student CNBC surveyed answered "Zuckerberg." Most didn't even know who Jamie Dimon is, but all of them knew of Facebook's founder.

They called him "a successful man," and "successful at such a young age." "He's a billionaire!" laughed student Laurel Yetter.

Computer Engineer Barbie
Source: Mattel
Computer Engineer Barbie

Four years ago, CNBC reported on concerns by the defense industry that it was losing engineering students to both Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Now, there seems to be only one preferred destination.

A New York Magazine article called "The End of Wall Street as They Knew It" quotes an unnamed hedge fund executive who says, "If you're a smart Ph.D. from MIT, you'd never go to Wall Street now... You'd go to Silicon Valley."

Perhaps the biggest proof that "kids these days" prefer tech to finance — Mattel [MAT Loading... () ] has a Computer Engineer Barbie. There is no Stock Broker Barbie. No Wall Street Ken.