Survey Shows Mix of Good and Bad in IT World

September 8, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Enterprise Systems' IT salary survey for 2005 shows that while managers and professionals working in large system data centers feel more insecure about their jobs than their counterparts at more distributed sites, they're also more satisfied with the compensation they receive.

Part IV in a series of reports on the survey released by Enterprise notes that generally there is a high degree of stability in IT jobs. Seventy two percent of respondents report they are in the same job they had a year ago and 16% report being recently promoted. Eight percent made a lateral job move in the past year.

The average length of time respondents reported being in their current position was 6.4 years and with their current employer was 8.5 years.

There is some level of dissatisfaction with compensation levels, however. According to the report, 38% of IT staff personnel are unhappy with their current compensation level. The satisfaction level is higher among IT executives and management. About a third of all respondents reported some degree of dissatisfaction with their current salary level, and only 14% said they were “extremely satisfied” with their pay.

Other findings of the survey, according to an Enterprise press release, include:

  • Applications programmers had the largest increase in salaries of IT staff positions for the second year in a row, and now average $56,500, a rise of 6.6% from last year.
  • Systems programmers fared the worst in 2005, with base salaries dropping almost 5% to $67,150.
  • Database programmers make more than most IT line positions, with premiums being paid to those working in the IMS and DB2 environments.
  • IT executives responsible for building and deploying customer-facing systems are getting the highest rewards.
  • The western United States, which felt the pain of recent IT layoffs and cutbacks perhaps more acutely than other regions, is now rebounding strongly and leading the way in salaries.
  • Twenty two percent of IT professionals feel their jobs are likely to be outsourced at some point in the future.

The salary survey of 1,170 enterprise-IT sites tracked salary figures for IT managers and professionals across a broad spectrum of organizations. The survey covers seven IT line positions and eight IT management positions. A copy of the report can be obtained by visiting http://www.esj.com/surveyResults.aspx and completing a brief registration.

«