IT Salary Tracker: ERP professionals

Since their original implementation in manufacturing environments in the early seventies, the role of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has become crucial to businesses in virtually all industries. The right ERP set-up can potentially reach into every corner of an operation, from accounting to customer relationship management to deployment of new products and services. Naturally, no company can launch an effective ERP system without the right systems people, so it comes as no surprise to learn that ERP professionals are commanding larger sums than ever.

Dice.com, Datamation's sister site and an Internet job board for IT professionals, contained 551 job openings for IT pros with ERP experience in March 2000, 7% of which were for senior-level positions. The three most sought-after skills were Oracle, Java, and UNIX. The overall average salary was $92,000 per year, and the average contract wage was $77 an hour. Salaries were highest in Philadelphia, where ERP pros made $108,500 per year, and the highest contract wages available were in Chicago, at $117 an hour. Note that a high proportion of senior-level positions in those cities drove the averages up slightly.

Results are based on averages or totals from the following information at dice.com: salary, job type, job skills, and location. --Zach Rodgers

Highest salary by city (average):
Philadelphia, $108,500 yearly salary

Highest hourly contract rate by city (average):
Chicago, $117 per hour

City with the most demand:
Silicon Valley, 22% of total availabilities

Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker ERP professionals: salaries by city Source: Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker/March 2000

Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker ERP professionals: hourly contract rates by city Source: Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker/March 2000

Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker ERP professionals: distribution of jobs by city Source: Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker/March 2000

Chart data compiled by Laurie Souza.