Tech Wages Grew, but Not Enough to Keep Top Talent
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Token Raise
The average tech professional makes $89,450 a year, up only 2% from 2013. -
Ways and Means
61% of IT employees got a salary increase in 2014, with most citing a merit raise as the reason. 24% boosted their compensation by changing employers. -
Bonus Time
37% received bonuses in 2014, up from 34% the year before. -
Small Incentive
The average bonus in 2014 was $9,538, up just 2% over the year before. -
Sinking Satisfaction
52% of the IT pros surveyed are content with their compensation, down from 54% in 2013. -
Action Plan
67% are confident that they can find a favorable new position in the year ahead, and 37% anticipate changing employers for better pay or conditions. -
Hot Region
Tech pros in Silicon Valley make $112,610 on average—the highest in the nation. That's up 4% from 2013. -
Hot Job
Tech recruiters make $81,966, a significant 19% increase in salary over 2013. -
Top Paying Tech Skills
PaaS: $130,081, Cassandra: $128,646, MapReduce: $127,315, Cloudera: $126,816, HBase: $126,369 -
Honorable Mentions
Pig: $124,563, ABAP: $124,262, Chef: $123,458, Flume: $123,186, Hadoop: $121,313
While compensation for IT professionals rose in 2014, the increases amounted to a minor bump-up for the average employee, according to a recent survey from Dice.com. The findings reflect a half full/half empty state for the industry: Yes, most tech workers received raises, but many had to change employers to do so. And more are receiving bonuses. However, the vast majority of IT pros do not get bonuses, and those who do are seeing only a slight increase in the amount. So IT managers and executives should not be surprised to find growing dissatisfaction about compensation among their staff members, along with the loss of top-notch talent to competitors when those workers leave to get better compensation packages. "As demand for technology professionals rises and highly skilled talent is harder to find, the pressure is being reflected where it counts: paychecks," says Shravan Goli, president of Dice.com. "Still, tech pros are less happy with their earnings, signaling to companies that in order to recruit and retain the best candidates, offering more will be necessary." More than 23,400 tech employees took part in the research.