How Much Do Tech Bosses Really Earn? (dice.com)

Nerval's Lobster writes: Everybody knows that tech's top figures, such as Google CEO Larry Page or Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, are worth billions of dollars thanks to stock options. But how much do everyday tech executives -- the CIOs, Chief Data Officers, and so on -- earn? Generally between $150,000 and $175,000 per year, not [including] possible perks such as stock options, according to a new analysis. That's based on national data, although anyone who works in tech knows that in high-demand areas such as Silicon Valley, salaries can skyrocket far higher for those with highly specialized skill sets and the right mix of experience. It's a good time to be a Pointy-Haired Boss, but then again, when isn't it?

Comments

This joker again? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

A fucking dice link?

Re:This joker again? Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly, yes

And the data is BS as well. These numbers are way too low in terms of the "top out". In a large corporation the CIO will be earning a multi-million package and there will often be 10's or 100''s of people in the USD1M+ group. The comment about Equity is also irrelevant as only total compensation is the only number that matters - who cares how much is base and how much is variable (bonus)?

Top flight developers get paid way more than these median number this in many locales...particularly silicon valley, New York, global financial hubs.

Where did they get this data?

Re:This joker again? Really?

[lgw]

And the data is BS as well. These numbers are way too low in terms of the "top out". In a large corporation the CIO will be earning a multi-million package and there will often be 10's or 100''s of people in the USD1M+ group. The comment about Equity is also irrelevant as only total compensation is the only number that matters - who cares how much is base and how much is variable (bonus)?

You might be surprised. Yes, I'm sure that far more than $200k is the norm, but publicly traded companies disclose pay - including exercised equity - for senior officers. I did a broad survey of larger companies (but not top 50) a few year back, and what I found was that CEO and CFO typically made about $1M, as did COO (most companies don't have that separate from CEO). Other officers typically made a lot less, in the $300-$500k range. Of course they could be accumulating equity that they're not selling (or option not exercised).

Top executive pay is very mush like the pay of top Hollywood actors, professional athletes, university presidents, and college football coaches. They all have the same "competitive bidding for talent" (real or imagined talent) pushing up comp. It seems odd to me to obsess only on CEO pay when it's about the same as all these other guys.

seriously

[peragrin]

comparing a tech boss of a company with 10 people in it to oracle or google, or microsoft is just ridiculous

Small companies pay their bosses less oh wow, breaking news.

The company i work for has 20 people and the boss makes $200k a year. Does that mean i can compare his salary to a fortune 500 company? not even close. if my company goes under my boss loses his shirt. he is personally tied into the company. if a fortune 1000 company goes under the CEO gets paid millions.

Re:seriously

[dbIII]

comparing a tech boss of a company with 10 people in it to oracle or google, or microsoft is just ridiculous

Sadly that's what some people have done and got away with being paid a fortune to run a small business and then fly off to crap on something else after the funds inevitably run dry.

Before flying off to fuck up Australian telecommunications Sol Trujillo was in such a tiny startup being paid as if he was running Pepsi instead of a tiny government funded group selling stuff to the intelligence community.

It's what you don't see that counts

[markdavis]

>"But how much do everyday tech executives -- the CIOs, Chief Data Officers, and so on -- earn? Generally between $150,000 and $175,000 per year"

That really doesn't sound like a lot for those types of positions in big companies.... but those positions typically have LOTS AND LOTS of perks that often easily outstrip the salary. Several fully-paid insurances, paid vehicles, paid phones & other tech, large 401K and other funds, stock options (which can be worth a fortune), delayed balloons, education reimbursements, huge expense accounts, travel allotments, BONUSES, extra vacation, etc.

Re:It's what you don't see that counts

[Aighearach]

That really doesn't sound like a lot for those types of positions in big companies.... but those positions typically have LOTS AND LOTS of perks that often easily outstrip the salary.

Exactly. Where it says, "not [including] possible perks such as stock options" that translates the whole thing to: "One of the smaller lines on their paycheck is only $150k." That isn't news, even if you really care about the subject.

Re:It's what you don't see that counts

[crunchygranola]

You are leaving out the most prominent bit of "non-salary" compensation: bonuses.

Bonuses aren't salary, but a top level exec will always, always get them because if he does not qualify, he wouldn't be kept in the position anyway. What is a typical bonus for a top exec? 100% is usual. So, in fact even without factoring in options (which can easily outstrip all other forms of compensation), or severance packages, their real take-home pay is double what is quoted.

In publicly traded companies this stuff is in the annual SEC filings so you can look it up yourself, its all on-line these days. The last company I worked for HR gave me static about getting a salary increase commensurate with my experience, position and contribution claiming that what I wanted was 90% of what the CIO made. Can't have that! But I pointed out to him that the SEC filings showed that the CIO got a 100% bonus each year, so really what I was asking for was only 45%. We settled for 42.5%.

Re:It's what you don't see that counts

[markdavis]

>"You are leaving out the most prominent bit of "non-salary" compensation: bonuses."

Actually, not only did I not leave it out, I uppercased it.

False assumption

[MerlynEmrys67]

In both the examples given (Page & Zuch) they did not get their wealth and billions from stock options, but from a direct ownership stake in the company. They Owned and retained a huge percentage of the companies that they founded and therefor get the value of the company that they retained. While they may get ongoing stock option packages, this is not the majority of their holdings.
Bad summary, bad article, etc. etc. etc.

Re:that's not a lot

[phantomfive]

The only realistic way to measure a salary is in the multiples of minimal wage (because that's what really determines price levels of everything else in this service economy)

That's wrong, people get paid in exchange for the value the provide (or are perceived to provide). Programmers need to provide $X worth of value for the company, or they aren't worth keeping around. Same with managers.

Incidentally I keep seeing articles about "how little CEOs make" based on dubious statistics. It seems like someone is trying to counter the propaganda that we had earlier about how CEOs were making $300 million a year or other outrageous amounts (also based on dubious statistics).

Re:But permies get holidays

[khallow]

And how much competition there is for the work in question.