Reprinted with permission © 2008 TreeTop Technologies
Recent economic challenges have shown that while IT salaries and bonuses continue to increase, the pace is a far cry from the old days. Truly, the heady days of the mid- to late-1990s, when web developers and professionals with hot IT skills commanded huge signing bonuses and strong annual salary increases, are a distant memory. But the good news is that salaries did increase overall in 2008, and should see greater rebound when the economy bounces back.
Computerworld's 22nd Annual Salary Survey, based on responses from 6,801 U.S. IT workers, indicates that total compensation which encompasses salary and bonus rose an average of just 3.5% this past year, just about in line with the 3.7% average increase reported in 2007. But the real hurt is in the area of bonuses specifically, which rose a mere 0.2% in 2008 for IT professionals, compared with 3.4% in 2007.
"This doesn't reflect a devaluing of IT professionals," says TreeTop Technologies' Staffing Consultant, Mike Knauth. "What it shows is that the preferential treatment for those professionals, which lasted a fairly long time, is no longer the norm. As with other areas of the business, for better or worse, salaries and bonuses have to align with the bottom line. As the economy bounces back, we'll see IT salaries get a lift, but how big those lifts will be are going to largely depend on how specialized or in-demand your skill set is."
With the sluggish pace of salary increases, IT professionals have some conflicting feelings. On the one hand, the Computerworld survey finds that 60% of survey respondents are either satisfied (43%) or very satisfied (17%) with their total compensation packages. But at the same time, more than half the respondents (52%) said they're looking for new jobs, with higher pay the prime motivator for 63% of them
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Footnotes: From "View from the TreeTop" Volume 2 Issue 12 December 2008