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Are these Developer and IT Salaries Believable?

August 31, 2010
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Would you believe a list of developer and IT salaries posted on the Internet, anonymously?

Some may scoff, yet plenty of wage slaves have flocked to Glassdoorsince it launched in 2008. The site enables users – without publishing their name – to post their salary figure. In exchange they get to see the salary data of other anonymous users.

A Glassdoor PR rep told me that the site now holds “more than a million salary reports, company reviews, and interview questions as well as office photos for more than 90,000 companies.”

Really, office photos? Why upload a photo of your office while providing confidential salary data? Isn’t that just a little…odd?

Glassdoor attests to the Internet’s ability to break down the walls that hide secrets. Information wants to be free, or so they say. Facebook proves that people have an overwhelming compulsion to share their personal data – sometimes too much so.

But is the information real?

When Glassdoor launched, CEO Robert Hohman told me the site takes great care to check its user-generated salary figures.

“We’ve got a bunch of technical and procedural mechanisms to vet the data,” he said, though when pressed on details, he deferred. “We’re not really talking about the specifics we’re using.”

The site claims “we require each user to certify their employee relationship to the company when they submit their post.” Furthermore, Glassdoor’s “active community moderation and our commitment to review every post, allow us to have confidence in our information.”

Hmmm…well, maybe that means the numbers are valid. Or maybe not. We don’t know exactly what’s happening behind the scenes. We have no independent verification of data. So the question remains: are these developer and IT salary numbers accurate?

What’s your opinion, based on your experience in the tech working world? Are these figures for real, or merely an aggregation of half-baked, semi-reliable unnamed Internet surfers?

Peruse the salary numbers and post your feedback in the Comments section below. If applicable, please list your industry background.

Microsoft Software Development Engineer

Average:$87,276

Range: $68k to $140k

Amazon Software Engineer

Average:$90,757

Range: $73k to $110k

Bloomberg L.P. Software Engineer

Average:$98,094

Range: $80k to $135k

Dell Software Engineer

Average:$84,330

Range: $64k to $115k

Oracle Principle Application Developer

Average:$104,140

Range: $90k to $120k

Citrix Software Development Engineer

Average:$81,500

Range: $78k to $94k

Acxiom Software Developer

Average:$59,270

Range: $46k to $80k

Sprint/Nextel Applications Developer

Average:$77,719

Range: $56k to $95k

Countrywide Home Loans Software Developer

Average:$92,774

Range: $66k to $110k

Wipro Software Developer

Average:$66,662

Range: $58k to $76k

Cisco Systems Software Developer

Average:$59,667

Range: $45k to $70k

Fidelity Investments Software Developer/Engineer

Average:$62,359

Range: $53k to $73k

Compuware Software Developer

Average:$76,705

Range: $55k to $105k

Intel Applications Developer

Average:$97,600

Range: $80k to $106k

CommVault Software Developer

Average:$86,046

Range: $72k to $102k

SAP Software Developer

Average:$86,001

Range: $71k to $106k

Rackspace Software Developer

Average:$66,553

Range: $46k to $87k

HP Software Development Engineer

Average:$97,718

Range: $76k to $136k

Alcatel-Lucent Software Development Engineer

Average:$84,583

Range: $57k to $110k

Tyco Electronics Development Engineer

Average:$66,567

Range: $52k to $89k

Aetna Applications Developer

Average:$65,126

Range: $61k to $68k

UBS Software Developer

Average:$95,056

Range: $82k to $105k

Nationwide, Specialist, IT Applications Development

Average:$75,445

Range: $68k to $88k

The Vanguard Group Software Developer

Average:$70,223

Range: $53k to $89k

Qwest Staff Software Development Engineer

Average:$112,410

Range: $99k to $126k

KPMG Software Developer

Average:$75,522

Range: $68k to $80k

Expedia Software Development Engineer

Average:$82,683

Range: $70k to $130k

Continued:

Retail Tech — IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk — Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant — Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer — System Admin Salaries

Apple Mac Store Specialist

Average:$11.64/hour

Range: $9-16/hour

Best Buy Geek Squad Agent

Average:$9.66/hour

Range: $7-13/hour

Circuit City PC Specialist

Average:$9.08/hour

Range: $8 to $10

Johnson & Johnson IT Manager

Average:$133,067

Range: $125k to $139k

McGraw-Hill IT Manager

Average:$120,667

Range: $100k to $162k

Barclays Capital IT Manager

Average:$126,700

Range: $121k to $131k

Sapient IT Manager

Average:$109,586

Range: $105k to $114k

Intel IT Manager

Average:$115,357

Range: $105k to $125k

Discover IT Manager

Average:$104,563

Range: $94k to $115k

Apple IT Manager

Average:$110,215

Range: $100k to $121k

Cisco Systems IT Manager

Average:$146,653

Range: $120k to $174k

Indiana University IT Manager

Average:(not listed)

Range: $53k to $58k

HP IT Manager

Average:$111,969

Range: $72k to $150k

GE IT Project Manager

Average:$93,148

Range: $70k to $125k

University of Hawaii IT Specialist

Average:$44,151

Range: $42k to $47k

US Federal Government IT Specialist

Average:$72,968

Range: $68k to $78k

See more salaries:

Developer Salaries

Retail Tech — IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk — Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant — Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer — System Admin Salaries

Pomeroy IT Help Desk Analyst

Average:$14.33/hour

Range: $14 to $15/hour

EDS Help Desk Support

Average:$31,667

Range: $25k to $35k

Starbucks Help Desk Analyst

Average:$17.48/hr

Range: $16-$19/hour

Comcast Help Desk I

Average:$41,505

Range: $34k to $50k

Intel Graduate Technical Intern

Average:$62,746

Range: $53k to $78k

Fujitsu Database Administrator

Average:$79,939

Range: $60k to $101k

Satyam Database Administrator

Average:$65,433

Range: $51k to $79k

Oracle Database Administrator

Average:$61,453

Range: $46k to $100k

Wipro Database Administrator

Average:$68,695

Range: $55k to $80k

Oracle Network Administrator

Average:$61,027

Range: $60k to $67k

Wipro Network Administrator

Average:$66,523

Range: $53k to $80k

Param Consulting Services Network Administrator

Average:$45,956

Range: $43k to $55k

Morgan Stanley, VP, Information Technology

Average:$126,900

Range: $115k to $135k

Prudential, Director of Information Technology

Average:$123,500

Range: $115k to $127k

Netpixel, IT Consultant

Average:$91,854

Range: $88k to $95k

See more salaries:

Developer Salaries

Retail Tech — IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk — Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant — Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer — System Admin Salaries

Microstrategy, IT Consultant

Average:$75,789

Range: $60k to $97k

Accenture, IT Consultant

Average:$73,450

Range: $61k to $94k

Bank of America, Assistant VP, IT Consultant

Average:$99,733

Range: $72k to $125k

Hatachi Consulting, IT Consulting Manager

Average:$109,611

Range: $90k to $132k

The Hartford, IT Business Consultant

Average:$62,433

Range: $55k to $77k

Hewlett-Packard, IT Business Consultant

Average:$105,506

Range: $87k to $117k

Kimberly-Clark, IT Consultant

Average:$91,033

Range: $78k to $104k

EMC, IT Principal Consultant

Average:$114,721

Range: $109k to $120k

Micropower USA, IT Consultant, hourly

Average:$23.97/hour

Range: $23 to $25

Intermec IT Security Manager

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $62k to $68k

CDS, Senior IT and Security Specialist

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $121k to $129k

HP, Senior IT Security Analyst

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $83k to $90k

City of New York, IT Security Engineer

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $113k to $122k

Lockheed Martin, IT Security Specialist

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $76k to $84k

See more salaries:

Developer Salaries

Retail Tech — IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk — Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant — Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer — System Admin Salaries

Wells Fargo Web Developer

Average:$94,664

Range: $85k to $110k

Apple Web Developer

Average:$79,784

Range: $65k to $95k

Disney Internet Group Web Developer

Average:$83,250

Range: $68k to $99k

Intuit Web Developer

Average:$78,250

Range: $75k to $85k

ESPN Web Developer

Average:$74,500

Range: $68k to $80k

PayPal Web Developer

Average:$92,500

Range: $85k to $100k

Patni Network and Computer Systems Administrator

Average:$53,969

Range: $39k to $71k

Infosys Systems Administrator

Average:$55,950

Range: $46k to $70k

Satyam Systems Administrator

Average:$64,510

Range: $53k to $81k

Rackspace Windows Systems Administrator II

Average:$56,833

Range: $47k to $63k

Rackspace Linux Systems Administrator II

Average:$48,850

Range: $43k to $55k

SAIC Systems Administrator

Average:$69,909

Range: $45k to $88k

Google Systems Administrator

Average:$86,934

Range: $72k to $109k

AOL Systems Administrator

Average:$99,278

Range: $86k to $120k

Fannie Mae Systems Administrator

Average:$100,146

Range: $97k to $104k

Amgen Systems Administrator

Average:(Not listed)

Range: $84k to $92k

ACCESS Linux Software Engineer

Average:$100,22

Range: $94k to $109k

Eisai Medical Research Senior Unix/Linux Administrator

Average:$120,470

Range: $116k to $125k

See more salaries:

Developer Salaries

Retail Tech — IT Manager Salaries

Help Desk — Database Admin Salaries

IT Consultant — Security Specialist Salaries

Web Developer — System Admin Salaries

  SEE ALL
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