IT Salary Report: How Do You Stack Up?: Page 5

It may be a reaction to the smaller number of computer science graduates, Melland says. “What you’re seeing is a little bit of supply and demand at the post college level.”

One of the factors causing the decrease in computer graduates is the slew of headlines about Indian outsourcing. Based on some media reports, the entire American IT industry will be relocated to Dehli sometime in the next 18 months. The reality is that offshore outsourcing currently eats up only a small slice of the domestic IT budget.

Additionally, news reports of tech layoffs in the 2000-2001 crash made IT look still less attractive.

The combined influence of these two factors have “created this perception that [IT] is a risky track,” Melland says. “In fact, when we do our satisfaction survey, what tech people are telling is that they would recommend this career track. And if you look at the pay and benefits, it’s very attractive.”

Average IT Salary by Years of Experience, 2005 – 2006

Less than 1 year: 2005: $37,471 // 2006: $42,414

1 - 2 years: 2005: $41,229 // 2006: $46,935

3 - 5 years: 2005: $52,363 // 2006: $55,922

6 - 10 years: 2005: $68,355 // 2006: $72,707

11 - 14 years: 2005: $80,933 // 2006: $83,907

More than 15 Years: 2005: $86,332 // 2006: $90,125

(Salary data courtesy of Dice.)

View IT salary figures for the following categories:

Salary by IT specialty: CRM, Java, ERP, etc.

Salary by region, from Silicon Valley to New York

Salary by industry, from banking to telecom to e-commerce

Salary by years of experience

Salary by level of satisfaction

The male-female salary gender gap