Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

IT Salaries to Grow 0.5% in 2005

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the more-in-the-pocket dept.

halfacrayon writes "According to Robert Half Technology 2005 Salary Guide, average base pay for IT professionals overall will rise 0.5% in 2005. Data security analysts will command the highest salary (up to $93K), while system auditors will enjoy the highest increase compared to 2004 rates (5.1%). IT instructors are holding the bottom spot in terms of gross revenues (salary could go as low as $43,250) and business systems analysts will barely notice the increase of 1.9% that they should expect in 2005."

11 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Half by Half by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Not surprising. Where I work people only seem to get pay increases by moving up the ladder, there's been no COLA of any sort for a few years. Other places I've worked in the past 10 years have only mustered 2% if anything at all.

    That, however isn't just the IT depts but entire organizations, with the notable exceptions at a few places where executives cut nice retro-active deals, even as the ship was foundering around them.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Half by Half by jskiff · · Score: 4, Funny

      there's been no COLA of any sort for a few years

      Did you at least get Mountain Dew???

      --
      It's "no one," not "noone." Who the hell is noone anyway?
  2. Re:Screwy economics by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 4, Informative

    I should forward this story to my boss. Then again since I work ar EDS I'm just happy to be one of the contracts thats not NMCI

    --
    500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
  3. In other news by cubicledrone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Home prices have increased 40%, inflation is over 3% and despite the tax cuts, about 1/3 of the average paycheck goes to taxes of one kind or another.

    One step forward, Chapter 7 steps back. Thanks boss.

    --
    Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
  4. Too bad for you by Moby+Cock · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunatly inflation is around 2%, so you are all going to get a little poorer.

  5. Re:US Job Market by ravenspear · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As IT has matured it seems that the people who stand to gain are those already employed in the field. Lots of people on here will tell you there are no more IT jobs available in the US, but that is just plain wrong. Check any of the jobs sites or staffing firms and you will find plenty listed. However, most of those are looking for experienced professionals who have several years experience working in industry. If you have that, there are plenty of opportunities out there.

    What more people usually bitch about is how the relative difficulty of entering the field has increased for newcomers.

  6. Only in major cities by shuz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am a Linux Systems Administrator of 20 machines for a small time company in a small town of 50,000(which is the county seat). I command a salary of $28,000 and I am told to like it. A combination of corporation in big cities and the economy drive the average wages. Unless my current town is so drastically different these wage studies must only take into account large cities of 100,000 or more.

    --
    There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
  7. It won't get better for awhile by Shamashmuddamiq · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The problem with most companies is that they learn to be miserly penny-pinchers when they go through bad times, and it's something they get used to and never grow out of. Even when things get better, salaries, bonuses and benefits often *don't* (except for the upper management, of course).

    I like the company I work for, but unfortunately, I may need to go someplace else if I want my career (and salary) to advance...

    --
    ...just my 2 gil.
  8. Re:US Job Market by Tsugumi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    What more people usually bitch about is how the relative difficulty of entering the field has increased for newcomers.

    Right... it's gotten harder to waltz in to an industry with very little to bring to the table. I interview a lot, predominantly grads into a fortune 100. It has gotten *easier* to hire people who are good, not because the market is saturated, but because I am getting less people who are pursuing a career in IT purely cos they think it will make them big bucks. I don't want those people, I want people who are interested in what they do. Otherwise, ultimately they are wasting my time, and their own careers. They won't stay long, and they won't enjoy the time they do spend.

    Taking some of the "glamour" out will be better for the industry, and it will be a better fit for the people who choose to do this. Money is, or should, be a secondary concern for everyone involved - there are bigger priorities here.

  9. IT salaries devalued by outsourcing by andrewzx1 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    One of the affects of IT outsourcing is a downward pressure on US IT salaries. With many IT jobs going overseas the affects are multifold. the jobs that are sent overseas creates a surplus of workers here in the US, and so workers don't have to offer premium salaries to fill positions, they can offer less.

    The indirect affect is that the perception of value of the IT work is lessened as well. Managers and owners hear that overseas IT workers will charge much less, so outsourcing is always an option if salaries rise too much. They will bring this up in salary discussions.

    I had a future career as an IT worker/manager. I decided the future was bleak enough to get go back to school and get a Master's degree in management, not IT management. I now know enough about planning, finance, reporting, cost structure, leadership, supply chain, knowledge management that I can feel confortable mooving into another field.

    Which is sad because I love IT. But I don't want to be around when all the jobs disappear. Like what happened to textiles, aerospace, and manufacturing. Sometimes its good to hedge your future.

    Good luck everybody.

  10. good luck by bobalu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Think "electrician".

    I started as a tech, spent the last 27 yrs in all manner of developer-consultant gigs, and I'm seriously thinking of applying for a journeyman electrician job.

    Intellectually it's cake, it can't be outsourced, and they make the same money.

    Cheers...

    --
    The revolution will NOT be televised.