If there were any doubts remaining about the importance of skilled IT
professionals to business, the 2015 IT Skills and Salary Report should
put them to rest. IT decision makers who responded to the survey said
skills gaps are taking a toll on their organizations, and IT pros who
can effectively fill these gaps may find that they have a good amount of
leverage in terms of career and salary growth.
The
2015 IT Skills and Salary Survey was conducted online from Sept. 15 to
Oct. 24, 2014. More than half a million survey invitations were sent to
recipients from the databases of Global Knowledge, Windows IT Pro, and
partner companies and organizations. More than 16,300 responses
worldwide were returned, with 68 percent coming from the United States
and Canada. This year’s survey is the eighth annual for Global Knowledge
and the third in partnership with Windows IT Pro.
This
year’s survey was broadened to include the perspective of IT decision
makers (ITDMs), who provided insight into key considerations including
budget trends and cloud computing adoption.
The
ITDMs also elaborated on the impact that skills gaps are having on
their organizations. In short, the impact is significant, and, as you
might expect, not in a good way.
In
this story we outline the survey and its highlights; we will follow up
with stories that drill down into specific topic areas.
A Widening Skills Gap
More
than one-third of respondents reported measurable gaps in their IT
groups’ skill sets. The biggest deficits were in the areas of IT
security, but network and systems engineering, IT architecture and
network operations are also areas that are falling short for many
respondents’ organizations. When it comes to the cloud, fully one in
five ITDMs said they are having difficulty in finding skilled
professionals to do the cloud jobs at hand.
How
is this manifesting at organizations and with their customers?
Respondents noted increased stress among existing employees, difficulty
meeting quality assurance objectives, deliverability issues, and delays
in new product and service development.
In other words, business don’t mean a thing if it don’t have that IT swing.
IT Skills: A Matter of Supply and Demand
When
it comes to salaries, it would appear that employers are paying a
premium for at least some of the skill sets in highest demand. Perhaps
not surprisingly, IT architecture, cloud computing and IT security
topped average salaries by functional area (at $108,201, $101,957 and
$101,539, respectively). Also in the top five: business technology
($101,964) and project/program management ($99,489).
At
the low end of average salaries by functional area were system
operations ($76,711) network operations ($74,313) and help desk
($58,420).
Looking at salaries from
previous years, overall salary growth remains flat. However, other
measures are showing improvement. For example 75 percent of respondents
reported receiving a raise. This is the highest percentage since the
year the study started. In addition, 63 percent of respondents reported
receiving a bonus, the highest percentage ever reported.
It
should be noted that there is significant variation in roles within
functional areas—or, in other words, an IT security job isn’t an IT
security job isn’t an IT security job. Security administrators make an
average of $70,437, while VPs/directors of security make $134,085. A
business application developer, meanwhile, makes an average of $77,122,
while a vice president of corporate applications makes an average of
$138,116. The gap between the lowest and highest levels in the systems
operations area was smallest, at about $30,000.
Of course, industry and company size, among other factors, also play a big role in determining salary.
When
looking at average salary for total IT, the systems integration
industry pays the highest ($104,187) and the education services industry
pays the lowest ($76,515). And, as you might expect, larger companies
pay higher total IT salaries than smaller companies. Interestingly,
though, differences are not very big. For example, companies with less
than 100 employees reported paying IT staff an average of $65,382, while
companies with more than 1,000 employees reported paying $$80,930—a
difference of $15,548. Companies with less than 100 employees paid their
ITDMs an average of $7,221 less then companies with more than 1,000
employees.
Stepping Things Up
So,
what do you need to do to increase your salary? In short, boost your
skill set. But not just any skills: According to responses to the
survey, gaining skills in the areas of IT security, leadership and
professional skills, network operations and IT architecture is key to
professional and salary growth. (And, not for nothing, these skills
align pretty closely with the areas respondents said are lacking in
their organizations.)
More than
three-quarters of the respondents to our survey, excluding decision
makers, said they had taken some form of professional development in the
prior year. This training ranged from the informal use of books and
DVDs, all the way to structured classroom or online training.
And
increased salary isn’t the only benefit to training and professional
development, according to IT-focused respondents. The following were the
top five perceived benefits they named:
- Stay up to date with technological changes
- Develop skills that will be useful for future positions
- Gain insight to be more effective in my current ride.
- Gain from the knowledge of others
- Develop a sense of personal accomplishment
The
training focus by tenure (the number of years a person has been in his
or her career) is always highest in the area of IT training, but that
percentage gradually decreases the longer a person has been at the IT
game. The focus on leadership and professional skills is always
second-highest, but that percentage gradually increases (although not by
much) the more years a person has put in.
After
years of economic uncertainly, the tide appears to be turning. Based on
the survey data, we’re certainly not looking at boom times right now,
but it seems like the era of doing way more with way less—while keeping
your head down lest you be noticed and laid off—is over (at least for
now). Salaries overall are flat, but more and more people are seeing
raises, and the number of people leveraging professional development to
improve their lot in IT life is significant.
