| Everybody knows that salaries ain't what they were back in the good old days (now defined as about two years ago.) Since then, there's been a sanity check on the market, which means that companies tighten their belts and that translates to less money for all us worker bees.
The question that I get asked all the time is: What's the average salary for (fill in technology job title here)? The correct answer in every case is: It depends. It depends on your skill set; your experience level; the industry(ies) in which you got that experience; the labor market in which you're looking for a job; and a bunch of similar stuff.
But the real question behind this question is: What am I actually worth? As hard as it is to find an answer to the average salary question, it's even harder to pin down a good answer to this one.
There are even more perspectives to consider when estimating your personal value to the marketplace. Add in:
- salary history;
- size and sophistication of the company doing the hiring;
- importance of the position to the enterprise (in small- and medium-size companies, IT jobs are often seen as support rather than mission-critical);
The bottom line is that your value is dependent on a complex equation of factors. And the final - and most important determinant - is your ability to negotiate the best deal for yourself. And that's much too hard to include in any general estimates like this one. So, take your best guess and now, on to the numbers...
Salary Stats
To keep from overwhelming everybody with figures, I decided to list a median salary as the statistic (half of all salaries are above this number; half below.) This number is followed by a pair of percentages indicating the salary range falling within the hump of the normal bell curve (the middle 50% of all respondents.) The first percentage is how far above the median it goes for the top of the range; the second percentage shows how far below the median for the bottom.) If you can't do the math to figure out the dollar amount, you don't belong in technology.
A few caveats...
- This is a very non-statistically validated massaging of several sources to come up with data. This means that the margins of error associated with each source have been compounded through manipulation. So, be warned - this is for general info and comparison only!!!!
- By no means is this an exhaustive list of IT occupations. I selected some very common job titles that had roughly comparable data available from different sources. When there wasn't sufficient overlap between sources to develop a figure for an occupation, I omitted it. (Again, no scientifically accurate method here.)
- Data is presented for the five labor markets that JobCircle operates in: Philadelphia; NYC; North Jersey; Pittsburgh, and, our newest location, Washington, D.C. Remember that these are all large regions, and salaries are likely to fluctuate widely within them. For example: Salaries are lower in West Philadelphia than they are in Wayne. They're higher in Manhattan than they are in Massapequa.
Entry-Level Jobs
Entry-level workers have between one and three years of paid experience in their respective occupations. Expect less (and probably significantly less) if you have no experience. It is less likely these days that certifications result in higher salaries; they are expected as a matter of course and "paper certs" mean less to employers than real-world experience.
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Philadelphia
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New York City
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North Jersey
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Pittsburgh
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Washington
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Client/Server
Programmer
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$48,700
(+18%/-16%)
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$60,300
(+18%/-11%)
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$57,700
(+18%/-11%)
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$52,400
(+18%/-11%)
|
$55,400
(+18%/-11%)
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Mainframe
Programmer
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$55,200
(+18%/-11%)
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$53,100
(+18%/-16%)
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$50,800
(+18%/-16%)
|
$46,100
(+17%/-16%)
|
$48,800
(+18%/-15%)
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Web
Designer
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$46,600
(+13%/-17%)
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$50,900
(+13%/-17%)
|
$48,700
(+13%/-17%)
|
$44,100
(+13%/-16%)
|
$46,700
(+13%/-16%)
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Content
Manager
|
$41,300
(+27%/-11%)
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$45,000
(+28%/-9%)
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$43,000
(+28%/-9%)
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$39,000
(+22%/-8%)
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$41,400
(+26%/-9%)
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Systems
Administrator
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$61,800
(+13%/-14%)
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$67,400
(+13/-14%)
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$64,500
(+13%/-14%)
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$58,500
(+13%/-14%)
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$61,900
(+/-13%)
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LAN
Administrator
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$41,500
(+16%/-9%)
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$45,300
(+15%/-9%)
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$43,300
(+15%/-9%)
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$39,300
(+16%/-9%)
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$41,600
(+15%/-10%)
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Help
Desk Technician
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$38,600
(+16/-12%)
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$44,200
(+14%/-12%)
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$42,300
(+14%/-12%)
|
$38,400
(+14%/-11%)
|
$40,600
(+13%/-12%)
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Business
Analyst
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$49,600
(+13%/-12%)
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$53,600
(+13%/-12%)
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$51,300
(+13%/-12%)
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$46,500
(+13%/-12%)
|
$49,200
(+12%/-13%)
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Systems
Analyst
|
$47,000
(+13%/-10%)
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$51,200
(+12%/-8%)
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$49,000
(+12%/-8%)
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$44,500
(+12%/-9%)
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$47,100
(+12%/-8%)
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Mid-Level Jobs
Mid-level workers have between three and five years of paid experience at their chosen occupations. They can work with without constant supervision and may be able to provide some guidance to newbies. It's assumed that they've gotten some training to reinforce existing skills and keep pace with new developments. Certs are highly preferred and not having them will result in fewer opportunities in the field and/or lower likelihood of promotion.
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Philadelphia
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New York City
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North Jersey
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Pittsburgh
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Washington
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Client/Server
Programmer
|
$68,500
(+14%/-11%)
|
$74,800
(+14%/-11%)
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$71,600
(+14%/-11%)
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$65,000
(+14%/-11%)
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$68,700
(+14%/-11%)
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Mainframe
Programmer
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$61,900
(+/-11%)
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$67,400
(+/11%)
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$64,500
(+/-11%)
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$58,500
(+/-11%)
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$61,900
(%12%/-11%)
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Web
Designer
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$53,100
(+20%/-12%)
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$57,900
(+22%/-12%)
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$55,400
(+22%/-12%)
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$50,300
(+19%/-11%)
|
$53,200
(+20%/-12%)
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Content
Manager
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$53,800
(+22%/-13%)
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$58,700
(+22%/-13%)
|
$56,200
(22%/-11%)
|
$51,000
(+22%/-13%)
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$54,000
(+23%/-13%)
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Systems
Administrator
|
$76,500
(+15%/-12%)
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$83,500
(+13%/-12%)
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$79.900
(+13%/-12%))
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$73,500
(+12%/-13%)
|
$76,700
(+12%/-13%)
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LAN
Administrator
|
$51,800
(+10%/-12%)
|
$56,500
(+10%/-12%)
|
$54,000
(+10%/-12%)
|
$49.000
(+10%/-12%)
|
$51,900
(+11%/-12%)
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NT
Administrator
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$80,700
(+14%/-9%)
|
$87,900
(+14%/-8%)
|
$84,100
(14%/-8%)
|
$76,400
(+14%/-9%)
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$80,800
(+14%/-9%)
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UNIX
Administrator
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$70,000
(+/-16%)
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$76,200
(+17%/-16%)
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$72,900
(+17%/-16%)
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$66,100
(+17%/-16%)
|
$70,900
(+15%/-17%)
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Help
Desk Technician
|
$50,100
(+14%/-11%)
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$54,700
(+13%/-11%)
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$52,300
(+13%/-11%)
|
$47,500
(+13%/-11%)
|
$50,200
(+14%/-11%)
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Business
Analyst
|
$63,600
(+/-13%)
|
$69,400
(+14%/-13%)
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$66,400
(+14%/-13%)
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$60,400
(+14%/-13%)
|
$63,800
(+14%/-13%)
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Systems
Analyst
|
$61,100
(+/13%)
|
$66,600
(+/-13%)
|
$63,600
(+13%/-12%)
|
$57,900
(+/-13%)
|
$61,200
(+13%/-11%)
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Data
Warehouse
|
$67,200
(+/-15%)
|
$73,300
(+14%/-15%)
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$70,100
(+14%/-15)
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$63,700
(+14%/-15%)
|
$67,400
(+14%/-15%)
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Database
Analyst
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$77.900
((+16%/-14%)
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$85,000
(+16%/-14%)
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$81,300
(+15%/-14%)
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$73,800
(+16%/-14%)
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$78,100
(+15%/-14%)
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Experienced-Level Jobs
People in experienced-level positions have a minimum of five years on the job. However, remember that it only goes up from there and the value of time does vary with desirability of skills. There are lots of Cobol programmers with more than 25 years experience, but very few Java programmers with five years. Which are more in demand these days, despite published salary figures? How many legacy systems jobs won't be replaced when their incumbents leave?
This data in this table is the least reliable, because the folks in this category vary the widest. Certifications are not always required for incumbents, but new hires (and even very experienced ones) are increasingly being screened for them. These folks are able to work without much supervision if any (but should be amenable to taking it when provided) and are expected to help less skilled colleagues.
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Philadelphia
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New York City
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North Jersey
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Pittsburgh
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Washington
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Client/Server
Programmer
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$78,700
(+12%/-8%)
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$86,000
(+12%/-8%)
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$82,300
(+12%/-8%)
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$74,700
(+11%/-9%)
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$79,000
(+12%/-
Enjoy this article? Read more of JobCircle.com's Career Coach articles.
Jamie Fabian spent more than 15 years as a human resources executive before changing careers to become a senior project manager for a growing IT consulting company. Now in management consulting for a large Pharma company, Jamie would like to be seen as a hybrid of Tom Peters, Tom Jackson, and Tom Wolfe, but spends too much time working, driving carpool and watching mindless TV to write more than this column. You can contact Jamie with questions and comments at jamie@jobcircle.com.
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