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2010 Salary Survey Highlights IT Woes
CWmike writes "Trapped between flat salaries and ever-increasing workloads, IT professionals are about to explode. That's the top takeaway from Computerworld's 2010 survey of nearly 5,000 IT workers. 'Bonuses and benefits are way down, and workloads and work hours have increased. Meanwhile, salaries are stagnant (rising just a microscopic 0.7% on average), and — not surprisingly — satisfaction is on the wane.' Another finding of note is the shrinking female IT workforce. Have a look-see at how IT fared in your neck of the woods with this smart look-up tool."
Really?
What jobs are you talking about?
Most of the jobs that actually pay a salary don't give a rat's ass about any F/OSS projects you've worked on. Recruiters want to know what your paid experience was. If you're applying for your typical corporate IT department (read a MS shop), no one really gives a shit. They want their laundry list of skills and at least 2-3 years experience with each.
I would be astounded if someone post a job description that says FOSS experience a plus.
I still find something trouble about the notion "take your happy pill and be glad you have a job..." It's certainly true, but it allows companies to railroad over employees, and not just IT departments specifically. But these companies will suffer if they can't find a way to make up a lack of salary increases with some sort of compensation when the job market opens up.
The bigger point is that IT is not alone in this. All sorts of departments are basically being told to do more with less, and expect no monetary compensation in the short-term for it.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
This is exactly what happens when you have non-technical accountants and marketers making technology-related decisions. Look at the executives for nearly any American company. You'll find the number of technical people at or near the top is virtually none.
Accountants are concerned with one thing: the next quarter's numbers. Software and IT infrastructure, on the other hand, often takes longer than that to properly implement and to see their benefits. So these accountants ignore IT, and often do what they can to deny funding, especially if it won't result in a near-immediate balance sheet gains.
In the past, when America still had some manufacturing base, engineers often had a prominent place within the leadership of most companies. They could think beyond the next quarter's financial results, and saw how technology could make their companies more efficient in the long run. Unfortunately, these people have retired or been forced out.
America now generates its "wealth" not through the creation of tangible goods and improving productivity at existing enterprises, but rather by creating and selling a variety of bullshit financial instruments. Things won't improve until technical folks are making the calls, rather than accountants and marketers.
The article is fairly accurate, as is your reply.
If you are working your way up the tech ladder you should really be living as transient a lifestyle as is possible. This means renting rather than buying a home, not buying roomfulls of furniture (harder to move all of your stuff), limiting debt, etc.
If you are able to be mobile and local opportunities are limited you will always have options elsewhere. I am fortunate that I live in an area that is still growing (Raleigh, NC) so I still have plenty of opportunities locally; I would be in trouble if I had to move right now (house needs work, would need to hire a mover, would probably lose a little money, etc). I know some guys who are stuck in areas like Boston, NYC, Michigan (multiple cities), etc who can't sell their house (not only is no one buying, they owe more than it is worth) which means they can't afford to move at the moment. If I could get them down here I know of multiple jobs they could get but they just can't make a move.
Ever feel like you are driving the getaway car?
I love this survey. I write software; it's what my degree is in, and it's what I do.
I can choose "Software developer", "Software engineer", or "Programmer/analyst". I like engineer. It sounds fancy; that's what the concentration was in school.
Salary went up in my region by 6.3% -- that's better than I've seen in 3 years. But what if I choose developer. That's what I call myself on my resume. My salary went down 1%.
That's why this survey is laughable. And they use average. Everyone else in the statistics community switched to median years ago. Where's your sample size per category? And seriously, 10 years experience as the first hurdle? No standard deviation either?
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Its not just money. In my last job (as an engineering grunt in a large corp.), I was paid pretty well. OK, I'll be honest....very well. But they had that attitude; 'be happy we're handing you piles of cash and shut up'. So I left. For less money (initially). They just couldn't figure it out when they tried to get me to come back. Its not just about the money, its about the culture at the company. And theirs stank.
This is why women steer clear of a lot of IT jobs. They have a much greater sensitivity to interpersonal factors. And when a company, or industry, starts playing behaving like assholes, they leave (or just never show up). Women are like canaries in coal mines.
Have gnu, will travel.
This is why women steer clear of a lot of IT jobs. They have a much greater sensitivity to interpersonal factors. And when a company, or industry, starts playing behaving like assholes, they leave (or just never show up). Women are like canaries in coal mines.
Exactly. And then various people start hand-wringing, asking "why aren't more women in IT or engineering", and trying to "fix" the problem, when in fact there's no problem at all. Women have seen that these careers mostly suck, and have decided to pursue other careers instead. I'm an engineer, and I wouldn't recommend this job to anyone unless they're the type of person (like me) who simply can't see themselves doing anything else in life. I know I never would be any good as a manager or really any job where I need to interact with people a lot, so basically for me it's either engineering (as an individual contributor) or some type of skilled labor like auto mechanics. Engineering obviously pays better (though it's debatable how much), so that's what I went with. If you have any people skills at all, I'd recommend doing something else for a living. However, if you live outside the USA, this advice should be ignored, as things are very different elsewhere. Germany, for instance, is still very strong in engineering, and I doubt companies there treat their engineers as poorly as American companies do.
"Women are like canaries in coal mines."
If I find them passed out or dead around the office, I'll be sure to evacuate!
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The 1950's called. They want they're attitudes back.
Your 3rd grade teacher called. She wants your English grade back.