Salaries Expected To Increase For IT Professionals In 2008

by Courtney Carpenter Robert Half Technology, an IT staffing firm, released its annual salary guide for 2008. The guide is based on an analysis of Robert Half’s project and full-time placements as well as research conducted by Robert Half Technology staffing and recruiting specialists. The Robert Half Technology 2008 Salary Guide predicts a 5.3 percent increase in base salaries for IT professionals and names the top three industries in demand for IT professionals in 2008 are financial services, healthcare, and commercial construction. Demand for IT professionals in a growing field is one reason why salaries are expected to increase. Walker Fenci, regional managing director at Spherion Corporation agrees that salaries in 2008 will increase. “I definitely think we will see an increase in salaries because of the candidate shortage.” Marc Tappis, president of Opportunity Search Inc., an IT staffing firm servicing the Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland areas, agrees with Fenci saying, “Demand for IT professionals is great. There’s a short supply and a large demand, which is why salaries are increasing. You have to cater to the professional to get them to stay.” Because of the short supply of skilled professionals, many companies are offering their employees additional incentives. “Many companies are raising base compensation for new hires and offering additional perks, including signing bonuses and equity incentives, to recruit and retain top candidates,” says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. Due to the high demand of skilled candidates, larger increases are in store for applications and web development, network management, and database administration professionals, the guide states. “There is a great demand for applications development types for java, and .net, as well as ERP system programmers for Oracle and SAP. It’s hard to find experienced candidates because in general, unemployment is at 0% {in the IT field}; everyone is working, and working harder, says Fenci. Lead applications developers are among the top positions in demand. According to the guide, they will see the greatest starting salary gain of any job classification in 2008, with base compensation expected to increase 7.6 percent, estimating their salaries between $80,250 and $108,000. Fenci agrees that the largest compensation professionals next year will be lead developers. “Lead developers are hands on as well as mentors—they will make the most money.” Tappis also points out that the demand for professionals with adequate experience is high. “There’s a strong demand for software development architects, networking candidates, data administration developers, and IT managers with strong technical backgrounds.” According to the salary guide, base compensation for applications architects, those responsible for designing interfaces and infrastructures of applications, is estimated to increase 7.5 percent next year, with their salaries ranging from $87,250 to $120,000. Network managers also will see average starting salaries from $74,500 to $98,500 per year—a 7 percent increase. Other positions expected to increase in base salary include messaging administrators, data modelers, senior IT auditors, and business intelligence analysts. Messaging administrators are expected to make $55,000 to $77,750 annually, a 7.1 percent increase. “These professionals are in high demand as companies aim to keep their employees, clients and customers connected,” says Lee. Data modelers will gain 7 percent in base compensation, ranging from $74,250 to $102,000, while senior IT auditors are expected to have starting salaries from $86,750 to $114,750—a 6.9 percent increase. Additionally, base salaries for business intelligence analysts will increase by 6.6 percent, from $78,250 to $108,250. Fenci predicts that business intelligence analysts will be in even higher demand next year. “Business intelligence is going to be huge next year because the space is growing, and it’s hard to find people with their skill set. They analyze data and get the information back into the database, which will become a trend in helping target customers.” Tappis and Fenci have positive outlooks for next year. “The demand is greater than ever. The tech field is evolving and there’s new technology being developed,” says Tappis. Fenci agrees, saying “Every year is better and better in our industry. I see next year being even better than 2007.”