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The most recent IT salary numbers have been tabulated by Dice, the tech job site, and they have a rosy glow to them.
“Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen a 20 percent increase in the number of jobs posted,” says Dice CEO Scot Melland. “And that’s coming off of huge increases in ’04 and ’05. So this is still a growing tech job market.”
The increase in number of positions means it’s more difficult for companies and recruiters to find qualified people to fill these jobs. Consequently, the magic of supply and demand has pushed up pay levels.
The average IT salary rose a respectable 5.2 percent in 2006, according to Dice.
It’s this 5.2 percent increase that Melland, surveying all the job data, finds the most noteworthy. While this number is a national average – and therefore varies widely based on IT specialty and region – still, “You put that up against the averages for other industries, and other skill areas, and that’s great.”
Looking at 2007, Melland notes that it would be very hard for the tech industry to replicate the job growth of the last few years, as it emerged in 2003 from the slump. But the job trendline appears to be continuing upward.
Peering into the crystal ball for 2007 job growth, “I would foresee a continuation of what we saw in ’06, which was a nice steady growth across all the traditional technology skill sets,” he tells Datamation. “There’s going to be a lot of competition for qualified tech professionals.”
Average Salary by Title, 2005-2006
The following salary averages are based on a survey of 19,000 tech professionals:
IT Executive:2005: $104,504 // 2006: $108,578
Project Manager:2005: $93,009 // 2006: $96,475
Database Administrator:2005: $81,301 // 2006: $85,441
Software Engineer:2005: $78,807 // 2006: $83,524
MIS Manager:2005: $82,824 // 2006: $82,510
Business Analyst:2005: $77,158 // 2006: $82,288
Developer: Database:2005: $73,768 // 2006: $79,911
Security Analyst:2005: $74,874 // 2006: $79,412
Developer: Systems:2005: $72,732 // 2006: $78,476
Developer: Applications:2005: $73,636 // 2006: $78,037
Developer: Client/Server:2005: $75,941 // 2006: $74,602
(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
Not surprisingly, the IT professionals who command the top salaries are those possessing complex skills sets that require long experience to truly master. Hence, those experts who understand the labyrinthine intricacies of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (SOX), or the big-picture challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), can expect to be well compensated.
In addition to the skills listed below, Dice reports that some of the most consistently sought-after skills are Oracle (average salary: $85,049) and Java/J2EE (average salary: $82,851).
Average Salary by Technology Skill Set, 2006
ERP:$96,161
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX):$91,998
CRM:$90,499
SOAP:$89,243
Solaris:$87,476
Business Analyst:$77,158
AIX:$87,309
SAP:$86,149
Microsoft Project:$85,870
Siebel:$85,861
Sybase:$85,049
(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
One of the key trends seen in the salary report is the growth of the West Coast tech market. “What we’ve seen over the last couple years is the resurgence of Silicon Valley, and the resurgence of San Diego and Seattle and that whole part of the U.S.,” Melland says. “So now it’s reflecting in salaries.”
IT Salary by Metro Area, 2005 – 2006
Silicon Valley:2005: $85,430 // 2006: $90,310
Boston:2005: $79,211 // 2006: $80,308
New York:2005: $76,382 // 2006: $80,006
Baltimore/Washington D.C.:2005: $75,593 // 2006: $79,911
Seattle:2005: $73,105 // 2006: $79,787
Los Angeles:2005: $73,911 // 2006: $79,583
San Diego:2005: $72,163 // 2006: $79,416
Denver:2005: $74,823 // 2006: $77,317
Sacramento:2005: $72,355 // 2006: $75,197
Chicago:2005: $71,496 // 2006: $75,154
Phoenix:2005: $70,023 // 2006: $74,976
Dallas/Ft. Worth:2005: $71,494 // 2006: $74,656
Philadelphia:2005: $71,881 // 2006: $72,786
(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
Once again, the banking, financial services and insurance industries offered the best compensation packages to IT professionals – and also saw a healthy year-over-year pay hike. But notice that e-commerce, while the lowest on the list, enjoyed a dramatic percentage gain.
IT Salary by Industry, 2005 – 2006
U.S. Average:2005: $69,700 // 2006: $73,308
Bank/Financial/Insurance:2005: $76,092 // 2006: $82,504
Telecommunications:2005: $72,430 // 2006: $78,003
Computer Software:2005: $74,730 // 2006: $77,582
Government/Defense:2005: $69,078 // 2006: $75,086
Medical/Pharmaceutical:2005: $71,714 // 2006: $72,717
Manufacturing:2005: $66,732 // 2006: $71,878
Internet Services:2005: $65,426 // 2006: $71,854
Computer Hardware:2005: $66,462 // 2006: $69,987
Retail/E-Commerce:2005: $55,909 // 2006: $63,830
(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
Perhaps the most surprising finding from Dice’s salary report: the largest percentage gains in 2006 were made by the least experienced workers. Why such a big increase for newbies?
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
Surprising no one, the Dice salary report finds that the higher a tech worker’s salary, the higher their satisfaction level. Is that because happier workers do a better job, and therefore earn more, or is it because without a sufficient salary, a worker can’t be happy? The truth may lie somewhere in between, but at any rate this data point probably isn’t IT specific.
“This has less to do with IT and more to do with that fact that, the people earning less are probably more likely to think they’re not being fairly paid, so that’s going to hurt their satisfaction level,” Melland says.
Average IT Salary by Level of Satisfaction, 2006
(The middle number indicates what percentage of workers fall into that category.)
Very satisfied:(14%) $91,234
Somewhat satisfied:(39%) $80,046
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied:(14%) $70,497
Somewhat dissatisfied:(21%) $62,845
Very dissatisfied:(11%) $50,180
(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
Unfortunately, the salary numbers below show that the gender gap in pay levels that runs throughout the working world also exists in IT.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the salary inequality in IT is far less than that of other industries. Melland notes that recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor shows that, across all industries, men make about 19% more than women. In contrast, the numbers from the tech industry look less onerous.
Percent Women Earn Less Than Men by IT Industry, 2006
Medical/Pharmaceutical:-11.5%
Telecommunications:-10.0%
Computer Software:-9.8%
Bank/Financial/Insurance:-9.5%
Government/Defense:-8.4%
Retail/E-Commerce:-8.3%
Manufacturing:-8.0%
Internet Services:-7.5%
Computer Hardware:-7.1%
(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
