U.S. technology salaries rose last year more than they have in a decade, with the average tech professional earning a 5 percent increase, from $81,327 to $85,619, according to an annual salary survey by Dice.
The increase comes at a time when more than two thirds of tech professionals — 64 percent — are confident that they can find a better job. Supporting their notion is the fact that employers are stepping up their efforts to retain staff, using more interesting or challenging assignments, increased compensation and telecommuting options. (Some 19 percent of the survey’s respondents changed jobs during 2012.)
Indeed, the technology job market remains tight. The sector’s unemployment rate now stands at 3.8 percent, well below the overall economy’s 7.8 percent.
Tech professionals with two years or less experience earned their first year-on-year increase in three years: 8 percent, to $46,315. For those with at least 15 years of experience, there was particularly good news: Their average salaries topped six figures for the first time, growing 4 percent in a year to $103,012.
Schizophrenic Bonuses
Though the year-to-year comparisons for bonuses were slight, they told opposite stories. On the one hand, the average award slipped to $8,636 from $8,769. On the other, slightly more professionals — 33 percent last year compared to 32 percent in 2011 — received a payout.
‘Mad Skills, More Money’
Professionals working with Big Data did particularly well. Salaries for those regularly using Hadoop, NoSQL and Mongo DB are all over $100,000. Those whose work is closely associated with the cloud and virtualization are earning, on average, just under $90,000. Average mobile salaries are closer to $80,000.
The survey was conducted online with 15,049 employed technology professionals responding between Sept. 24 and Nov. 16, 2012. Cookies were among the methods used to duplicate responses.
Comments
January 22, 2013 at 3:36 pm, whatdoyouknowa said:
The question is:
Are tech salaries going up ? Really ?
After a decade of declining salaries, it’s impossible for them to leap way up to make up for the lost decade.
In light of CEO having their base salary cut in half (e.g., J. Dimon@JMPChase), what does one expect a tech’s salary to stay at the current level ???
My bet is that tech salaries will drop again, and drop big, there’s nothing in the US economy to sustain increase.
Cheers
Reply
January 22, 2013 at 9:14 pm, Glen Smith said:
There are several possible stories here that fit the data. Remember, this does not include the unemployed IT guys or those who were driven out of IT altogether. First, the supply group that is most desired (employed in a job that almost exactly fits the new job and not actively looking) shrinks during downturns. During economic upswings, demand goes up for this supply group meaning salaries by definition have to go up. Even if there is no upswing in demand, the falling supply will cause salaries to rise for that supply group because it is likely that supply group is shrinking faster than demand. Another possibility is that more senior IT guys are having to take entry level jobs that should go to guys trying to break into the field. Senior guys took a severe pay cut to get those jobs but at a rate slightly higher than the guys who should have taken those jobs. Combined with the first story, this would also severely limit the supply management is aware of and wants to hire from. Finally, a more positive scenario, some senior IT managers and CEOs are finally waking up to the bill of goods they bought. Thing I really would want to know is the true unemployment/under employment rate in IT and the actual distribution of salaries in IT given the true unemployment/under employment rate.
Reply
January 22, 2013 at 10:05 pm, whatdoyouknowa said:
Trust me both rates for consultants have been steadily dropping since 2003, as well as salaries for FTEs.
Going forward, both the US economy as well as global economies will continue to decline in an attempt to cut costs and reign in deficits.
Almost forgot to mention that to close the gap, taxes will rise, etc. etc. etc.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 11:17 am, Dave DSa said:
I guess all this information and statistics are based on the commercial side of IT! Not including IT work that requires a medium to High level security clearance!
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 11:21 am, mymotorrad said:
This might be true if you’ve never lost your job in the last decade. If you have, a terrible correction takes place each time.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 1:11 pm, Nixxi said:
My pay went down by $13,000.00 in the past 10 years. You can always get an old Cobol job if your goal is just to eat. They pay around 40k-65k. You can get Java contracts easily enough, but contracting work is hit or miss. Sometimes you have some green and in-between, things get lean. I have had to increase my knowledge of languages and have recently added Python. Well, I am always hopeful that things will get better. My neighbor used to be in IT as well, but now he is working in a nursing home.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 1:36 pm, mymotorrad said:
In 2001, I was making 71K FT plus another 5-10K in side work a year. Now I am unemployed and the last job I had paid 18/hr and the last FT job 52,800 and we had a salary freeze for 3 years. Yeah, salaries are up all right.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 1:18 pm, weneedrealchange said:
I think the survey is flawed, it appears when you click on the map that only a handful, or even 1 person only answered the survey, severely distorting the “averages” per state, which in hand distort the whole picture.
I agree with Glen above that senior guys having to take low-paying replacement jobs is not only a missing variable, but a near-plague on the whole salary graph.. I personally made near 100k 10 years ago, company got bought out, IT got replaced, & I had to start back at 50 at next company, then company got bought out, IT replaced, found a new “entry level” (they are ALL entry level OR temp jobs now)…and now am down even further to $46k.. with 15 years sysadmin experience.
I kepp hearing these fantasies on how great the economy and job markets are, in our field and others, yet my wallet and my eyes paint a much different and less-rosy picture.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 1:51 pm, mymotorrad said:
Ayn Rand will spin in her grave for me saying this, but may be IT workers should unionize.
Reply
January 24, 2013 at 1:31 pm, sarahjaneb said:
Ha! I’m staying at a state job (which have historically been 15-20% below private sector salaries) because everything else I’ve found is a consulting gig with no job security or longevity, and/or less money. I actually got an offer from a major consulting firm that was just barely more than what I make now, and with fewer benefits. I’ve been getting emails from recruiters that I’m just shaking my head at and deleting because the listed rates are so ridiculously low. Less than $30/hr with no benefits, and they think they’ll get someone with 10+ years of programming experience for that?