Below, you’ll see salary figures for many IT positions, tracking pay changes for each year from 2003 to 2008.
The salary figures cover a wide range of IT jobs. On this page you’ll see Programmers and Software Engineers, while on later pages you’ll see salary figures for PC Specialists, Database Managers, Network Specialists, Web analysts, LAN experts, CIOs, and several other positions.
Notice that many of these salaries don’t move steadily upward; instead they tend to bounce up and down over a multi-year period. If you’ve been in the IT job market, it’s likely you won’t be surprised by this.
As the tech world changes – always quickly – the market value of tech skills also changes. Anything from outsourcing to the overall economy affects the yearly pay range of a given IT position.
IT continues to be one of the better-paid career choices, but IT staffers must deal with constant upheaval. Companies start-up, merge, downsize and shift focus with unsettling regularity.
The old-fashioned concept of a staffer staying with a single firm for 35 years, retiring with a gold watch and a handshake, is merely quaint.
This lack of stability is reflected in the gyrations you’ll see in these salary figures – in contrast to the traditional steady raise some workers might have expected.
This data is courtesy of Janco Associates, a consulting firm specializing in developing IT infrastructure.
The company is often involved with staffing issues, hence its expertise in IT salaries.
Additionally, the firm’s CEO, Victor Janulaitis, developed the disaster recovery facility in New Jersey for Merrill Lynch that the financial company used on 9/11; his template for disaster recovery facilities is used by many large companies. Janco is based on Park City, Utah. The firm publishes a full list of IT salaries.
Note: these IT salary numbers, which come from both employers and employees, are median figures. That is, they represent the middle of the pay scale.
These figures list IT salaries for both large and medium-sized companies. You’ll notice that, in general, large companies pay more (large firms tend to have larger IT functions). But there are plenty of exceptions to this. Some of the data comes from privately held companies, which in some cases are willing to pay a handsome premium for key personnel.
Job Title: Chief Information Officer, CIO:
Company Size:
Large
Medium
2003
$168,788
$165,792
2004
$167,508
$176,357
2005
$169,601
$171,791
2006
$169,324
$172,351
2007
$174,979
$169,504
2008
$181,240
$171,200
Job Title: Director, Production/Data Center:
Company Size:
Large
Medium
2003
$120,012
$109,106
2004
$122,791
$115,901
2005
$126,571
$115,976
2006
$126,852
$111,810
2007
$158,466
$111,337
2008
$131,148
$112,341
Job Title: VP, Consulting Services:
Company Size:
Large
Medium
2003
$136,171
$127,520
2004
$138,117
$132,018
2005
$139,462
$135,338
2006
$145,176
$135,888
2007
$140,809
$142,974
2008
$138,946
$144,927
Job Title: VP, Information Services:
Company Size:
Large
Medium
2003
$113, 901
$108,682
2004
$116,437
$108,389
2005
$134,227
$108,173
2006
$134,584
$106,746
2007
$144,928
$111,576
2008
$143,276
$116,383
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Written by Bobby
Bobby Lawson is a seasoned technology writer with over a decade of experience in the industry.
He has written extensively on topics such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, and data analytics.
His articles have been featured in several prominent publications, and he is known for his ability to distill complex technical concepts into easily digestible content.