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

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.

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

[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%.