Dice Tech Salary Survey

Dice Tech
Salary Survey
2014-2013
Released January 29, 2014
Salaries and Confidence Rise
for U.S. Tech Professionals
Contents
PAGE
3
4
5
6
Tech Salary Satisfaction
10-Year Trend in Tech Salaries
Bonus Trends
Top Reasons for Salary Increases
Employee Motivators
Salary by Metro
Earning Power by
Changing Employers
Willingness to Relocate
7
8
9
10
Salary by Job Title
Salary by Employment Type
Six-Figure Salary Skills
Salary for High Paying Skills
Salary for High Paying Skills
(Continued)
Salaries and confidence rise for
U.S. tech professionals
Tech powered companies on edge as compensation satisfaction slips
More technology professionals in the U.S. enjoyed
merit raises over the last year, driving average salaries
up in 2013. Average U.S. tech salaries increased nearly
three percent to $87,811 in 2013, up from $85,619
the previous year.
Technology professionals understand they can easily
find ways to grow their career in 2014, with twothirds of respondents (65%) confident in finding a
new, better position. That overwhelming confidence
matched with declining salary satisfaction (54%, down
from 57%) will keep tech-powered companies on
edge about their retention strategies.
Employers are using selective and strategic increases
in compensation to hold onto experienced tech
talent. While the overall average salary increase was
smaller than the previous year’s historic jump of
more than five percent, employers offered more
frequent merit increases.
Increasingly Competitive Market for Tech Pros
Boosts Merit Pay Increases
For those technology professionals whose salary
increased in 2013, 45 percent say the increase was
sparked by a merit raise, compared to 40 percent the
previous year. Salary increases were more likely for
tech professionals early in their career or with one
to five years of experience, while bonuses are being
used for more experienced tech professionals.
Tech Salary Satisfaction Slipping; Majority
Confident They Can Find New Positions
65%
Confident
57%
Salary Satisfaction
2012
AVERAGE U.S. TECH SALARY
2004
54%
2013
10-Year Trend
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
$67,800
$69,700
$73,308
$74,570
$78,035
$78,845
$79,384
$81,327
$85,619
$87,811
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
YR/YR
CHANGE
-2.3%
2.8%
5.2%
1.7%
4.6%
1.0%
0.7%
2.4%
5.3%
2.6%
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
3
Thirty-four percent of respondents received a bonus
as part of their 2013 compensation, with average
bonuses totaling $9,323.
With the tech
unemployment rate low,
technology professionals
know they can take control
of their careers.
REASONS FOR
Salary Increase
Internal
promotion
Mandated
company-wide
increase
12%
26%
Changed
employers
11% 6%
Other
45%
Merit raise
—Shravan Goli, President of Dice
Tech professionals are recognizing employers’
efforts, with just 34 percent of respondents saying
their company offered no motivators last year, down
from 47 percent who felt that way in 2009. Likewise,
the motivator with the most dramatic rise over that
timeframe: increased compensation.
“With the tech unemployment rate low, technology
professionals know they can take control of their
careers,” said Shravan Goli, President of Dice. “Tech
hiring managers tell me they are stretching budgets
where they can to keep their technology work forces
focused and satisfied.”
Bonuses
Did You Receive
a Bonus?
YES 34%
2013 BONUS
$9,323
NO 66%
Motivation
% of employers
providing motivators
to retain talent
What was the primary motivator your employer provided you in 2013?
66%
2% High-level recognition
2013
1% N/A
34% None -
No motivator
provided
3% Training and certification courses
3% Other
5% Promotion or new title
17% More
interesting or
challenging
assignments
17% Increased
2009
53%
compensation
9% Flexible work hours
10% Flexible work location/Telecommuting
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to rounding.
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
4
1 Silicon Valley
2013
$108,603
7.2%
YR/YR CHANGE
3 Los Angeles
2013
2
2013
Balmore/
Washington D.C.
For additional market
information, an interactive map
of average U.S. tech salaries for
the 48 continuous states and key
metropolitan areas is provided
at: dice.com/salarymap
$95,815
3.6%
YR/YR CHANGE
4 Seale
$97,588
-0.3%
YR/YR CHANGE
2013
$95,048
0.8%
5 Boston
YR/YR CHANGE
2013
$94,531
-0.2%
YR/YR CHANGE
AVERAGE SALARY BY
Metro
YR/YR
METRO
2013CHANGE
YR/YR
METRO
2013CHANGE
YR/YR
METRO
2013CHANGE
6 New York
7Denver
8Houston
9Philadelphia
10 Austin
11 San Diego
12Atlanta
13 Charlotte
14 Dallas/Ft. Worth
15 Hartford
16Minneapolis
17Phoenix
18Chicago
19Raleigh
20Sacramento
21Portland
22 Cincinnati
23Detroit
24Tampa
25Cleveland
26Orlando
27 Miami 28 Kansas City
29 St. Louis
30Columbus
31 Pittsburgh
$93,915
$93,195
$92,475
$92,138
$91,994
$90,849
$90,474
$90,352
$89,952
4.7%
3.1%
-1.8%
7.5%
2.6%
-6.7%
3.3%
4.7%
4.4%
Still More Bounce in California
Silicon Valley tops the list of highest paid metropolitan
areas when it comes to tech talent, with an average
annual salary of $108,603 and an average annual
bonus of $12,458. The seven percent year-over-year
increase in salary was partially driven by those tech
professionals earning more than $250,000 being
included in this year’s results. Excluding those highly
paid professionals, Silicon Valley salaries still increased
$87,265
$87,227
$87,114
$86,574
$85,559
$85,100
$84,295
$83,537
$81,832
2.5%
-1.3%
4.2%
1.7%
2.3%
-5.6%
-5.6%
10.1%
6.9%
$80,273
2.8%
$79,840
5.4%
$79,805 -2.2%
$78,872 -2.2%
$77,329
0.1%
$76,220 -6.2%
$76,035 -8.2%
$68,100 -10.6%
at a greater rate than the national average or five
percent year-over-year.
Most of the top ten markets enjoyed year-overyear salary increases at or above the national
average, including Los Angeles ($95,815, up 4%),
New York ($93,915, up 5%), Denver ($93,195, up
3%), Philadelphia ($92,138, up 8%), and Austin
($91,994, up 3%).
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
5
The notable exception in the top markets is number
two: Baltimore/Washington, D.C. whose average
salary of $97,588 was essentially unchanged yearover-year. Salaries in and around the nation’s capital
are boosted by the aerospace and defense industry
whose average technology salaries rank secondhighest among industries.
Changing Employers
Of tech pros
that anticipate
changing
employers,
here’s why.
Salary milestones were captured in Atlanta and
Charlotte, joining Philadelphia and Austin with
average salaries for tech professionals above $90,000
for the first time.
68%
Big Data Dominates Top Paying Skills
$77,550
Higher
Compensation
AVG. SALARY
Professionals with big data oriented languages,
databases and skills garnered the highest pay
checks, with nine of the top ten salaries related
to big data. Get more details on top-paying skills
on pages 8, 9 and 10.
“Companies are betting big that harnessing data can
play a major role in their competitive plans and that
is leading to high pay for critical skills,” said Mr. Goli.
“Technology professionals should be volunteering for
big data projects, which makes them more valuable
to their current employer and more marketable to
other employers.”
48% Better
working
conditions
35% More
responsibility
AVG. SALARY
$80,746
$83,978
AVG. SALARY
13% Other
20% Anticipate
losing current
position
AVG. SALARY
$91,557
AVG. SALARY
$89,652
Relocating
Are you more
or less willing
to relocate to a
new city or state
for a job than
one year ago?
27%
More willing to
relocate now
28%
Less willing to
relocate now
41%
Same now as a year ago
5%
Not sure
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to rounding.
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
6
AVERAGE SALARY BY
1
Job Title
Tech Management
(CEO, CIO, CTO, VP, Dir.)
2
3
Systems
Architect
Data Architect
2013
2013
$132,974
YR/YR CHANGE 8.0%
2013
$125,467
YR/YR CHANGE 3.5%
4
5
Tech
Management
(Strategist, Architect)
2013
$118,060
5.4%
YR/YR CHANGE
YR/YR
JOB TITLE
2013
CHANGE
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
MIS Manager
Database Administrator
Software Engineer
Security Analyst/Architect/Engineer
Developer: Database
Developer: Systems
Business Analyst
Technical Training
Developer: Applications
Programmer/Analyst
AVERAGE SALARY BY
Project
Manager
2013
$109,598
3.3%
YR/YR CHANGE
YR/YR
JOB TITLE
2013
CHANGE
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Network Engineer
Web Developer/Programmer
Security Analyst
Quality Assurance (QA) Tester
Systems Administrator
Technical Writer
Technical Support
Desktop Support Specialist
Help Desk
PC Technician
$81,944
$78,306
$78,004
$75,444
$74,967
$74,640
$53,761
$49,033
$42,512
$38,932
4.5%
-0.7%
-6.5%
1.3%
2.8%
-3.9%
3.8%
-0.1%
-3.8%
0.6%
Employment Type
U.S. Average
$87,811
YR/YR CHANGE 2.6%
2013
$102,076 10.0%
$101,166 7.1%
$97,920 0.2%
$96,513 1.9%
$95,879 7.6%
$94,656 1.3%
$90,180 1.5%
$90,005 18.0%
$90,004 0.0%
$83,211 5.8%
$118,756
3.8%
YR/YR CHANGE
Full-Time
Workers
$85,060
YR/YR CHANGE 2.0%
2013
Consultant
Consultant
$109,884
YR/YR CHANGE 5.7%
2013
2013
(Base Rate Per Hour)
$65.87
YR/YR CHANGE
3.6%
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
7
TECH SKILLS THAT
NET SIX-FIGURE
SALARIES
Hadoop
$108,669
Cloudera
$105,677
MongoDB
project
$107,825
MANAGEMENT
MapReduce
$114,396
big
Project Manager
$109,598
& DATA SCIENCE
front
end
NoSQL
$114,796
Hive
$102,812
Angular
Pig
$112,382
$109,561
Source: 2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
Knockout $100,566
Hbase
mobile
Objective C $102,652
UI /UX
Azure
$106,957
$101,208
design
$102,573
OpenStack
DEVELOPMENT
$105,295
Amazon AWS
$102,787
Lean $105,448
R $115,531
d ata
Cassandra
Agile $101,450
cloud
Omnigraffle
$111,039
Jenkins
$104,461
Balsamiq
$102,747
dev
ops
Puppet
$103,925
AVERAGE SALARY FOR
High Paying Skills and Experience
YR/YR
SKILL
2013CHANGE
YR/YR
SKILL
2013CHANGE
R
NoSQL
MapReduce
PMBok
Cassandra
Omnigraffle
Pig
SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)
Hadoop
Mongo DB
SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley)
Jetty
UML (Unified Modeling Language)
OpenStack
Big Data
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration)
3Par
FCoE (Fibre Channel Over Ethernet)
Cloudera
Lean
Hbase
Solaris
Jenkins
Puppet
ETL (Extract Transform and Load)
Kanban
Waterfall
Postgres
Nginx
Scrum
Change Management
Load Balancers
Hive
JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)
Azure
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Balsamiq
Objective C
Amazon AWS
SDLC (System Development Life Cycle)
Korn Shell
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
HP-UX
EMC
JBoss
Weblogic
Fortran
Agile
Angular
SaaS (Software as a Service)
TCL (Tool Command Language)
SDN (Software-Defined Networking)
Sybase
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
Perl
Knockout
TOAD (Tool for Application Development)
C
ABAP (Advanced Business Application Development)
AIX
iRise
Bash
HL7 (Health Level 7)
Tomcat
Netezza
Oracle DB
Wan Opt
JIRA
Oracle eBusiness Suite
Microsoft Project
DOORS
$115,531
$114,796
$114,396
$112,382
$112,382
$111,039
$109,561
$108,997
$108,669
$107,825
$107,697
$107,406
$107,387
$106,957
$106,542
$106,508
$106,432
$106,062
$105,677
$105,448
$105,295
$104,710
$104,461
$103,925
$103,830
$103,381
$103,160
$103,146
$103,062
$102,955
$102,889
$102,861
$102,812
$102,803
$102,787
$102,757
$102,747
$102,652
$102,573
$102,361
$102,182
$102,131
$102,066
$101,673
$101,646
$101,643
$101,553
$101,450
$101,208
$101,127
$101,102
n/a
1.6%
n/a
1.3%
n/a
0.3%
n/a
-0.5%
-5.6%
-0.4%
4.8%
0.4%
4.7%
n/a
-6.3%
2.1%
7.4%
2.7%
n/a
1.8%
n/a
3.7%
n/a
n/a
-0.9%
0.7%
-0.1%
6.4%
1.8%
-0.3%
1.8%
2.3%
n/a
-1.0%
1.5%
2.4%
n/a
-2.2%
3.0%
1.8%
-1.5%
3.0%
-0.2%
2.6%
1.1%
-0.7%
-2.1%
1.6%
n/a
0.2%
2.0%
(Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements
Management System)
Business Intelligence
Fibre Channel
JSP (Java Server Pages)
Data Warehouse
NetApp
Rackspace
Cloud Computing
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching)
Shell
Six Sigma
Unix
Lighttpd
HP Eva
CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry)
Disaster Recovery
Telepresence
Hitachi
Websphere
Zookeeper
Teradata
EDI (Electronic Data Exchange)
VSAM (Virtual Storage Access Method)
Labview
Java/J2EE
SAP
Matlab
Metro Ethernet
Visio
$101,026
$100,868
$100,746
$100,656
$100,566
$100,486
$100,134
$100,024
$99,995
$99,934
$99,783
$99,642
$99,435
$99,401
$99,158
$99,111
$98,971
$98,967
$98,950
n/a
6.0%
0.8%
3.3%
n/a
2.2%
3.2%
3.4%
-0.5%
n/a
6.7%
n/a
1.7%
n/a
2.6%
2.5%
0.1%
2.7%
1.7%
$98,940
$98,691
$98,687
$98,657
$98,536
$98,209
$98,145
$98,032
$98,013
$97,989
$97,883
$97,833
$97,806
$97,792
$97,767
$97,757
$97,732
$97,543
$97,468
$97,453
$97,405
$97,359
$97,248
$97,232
$97,118
$96,955
$96,438
$96,248
$96,191
$96,172
-0.4%
-3.1%
3.3%
0.4%
-2.5%
3.2%
n/a
2.0%
5.2%
3.6%
3.7%
1.8%
3.0%
1.3%
n/a
7.7%
2.0%
2.7%
5.6%
-1.9%
n/a
-2.0%
-2.7%
5.1%
n/a
3.1%
2.6%
5.0%
5.3%
1.8%
NOTE: Several new tech skills were added to the 2013 survey and therefore yr/yr change is not available.
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
9
AVERAGE SALARY FOR
High Paying Skills and Experience
YR/YR
SKILL
2013CHANGE
YR/YR
SKILL
2013CHANGE
Ajax
Rexx
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
ISO 9000
SQLite
Unified Communication
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Informatica
Linux
PL/SQL
MVS (Multiple Virtual Storage)
Nimble
Cognos
DHTML
Application Delivery
SAN (Storage Area Network)
Groovy
Apache Web Server
Glassfish
DB2
T-SQL (Transact-SQL)
Virtualization
Compellent
C++
Assembler/Assembly
Snagit
Python
Siebel
Optical
QA / Quality Assurance
Xen
Tivoli
C#
VMware ESX
Ruby
VX Works
z/OS
Web App Firewall
IDMS (Integrated Database Management System)
SQL
JDE/JD Edwards
SharePoint
QoS (Quality of Service)
Salesforce.com
IIS (Internet Information Services)
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act)
Informix
TSO / ISPF (Time Sharing Option / Interactive
System Productivity Facility)
CloudStack
Oracle Application Server
vCloud
Backbone
FreeBSD
Epic
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
ASP.net
Alfreso
Peoplecode
NAS (Network-Attached Storage)
Camtasia
Sqoop
iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)
JavaScript/jQuery
CICS (Customer Information Control System)
SQL Server
IDS/IPS (Intrusion Defense Systems / Intrusion
Prevention Systems)
.NET
VMware
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem)
MySQL
Visual C++
Security Clearance
Juniper
VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)
Equallogic
SAS
HTML5
Apex
HP Lefthand
ASP
Parallels
Cerner
VB Script
EMR/EHR (Electronic Medical / Health Records)
Crystal Reports
JCL (Job Control Language)
KVM (Kernal-based Virtual Machine)
Easytrieve
Lawson
Open VMS
COBOL
MS Dynamics
Peoplesoft
NetSuite
ColdFusion
Visual Fox Pro
Actionscript
IBM Mainframe
iPad
Visual Basic .NET
$96,115
$96,076
$95,751
$95,638
$95,627
$95,619
$95,478
$95,454
$95,379
$95,354
$95,283
$95,272
$95,123
$95,091
$94,943
$94,936
$94,929
$94,842
$94,819
$94,740
$94,712
$94,667
$94,496
$94,338
$94,201
$94,182
$94,139
$94,074
$93,977
$93,909
$93,883
$93,752
$93,717
$93,587
$93,585
$93,451
$93,380
$93,378
$93,354
$93,340
$93,183
$93,160
$93,143
$93,134
$92,967
4.3%
-1.2%
3.3%
-0.4%
5.7%
1.9%
0.6%
-2.0%
5.0%
3.4%
4.8%
n/a
-1.8%
3.4%
3.9%
3.5%
-5.9%
3.3%
-2.9%
1.1%
n/a
2.8%
3.0%
2.3%
-0.5%
3.1%
-0.8%
2.6%
4.1%
1.0%
1.7%
0.3%
3.3%
8.0%
-4.6%
n/a
0.1%
4.1%
n/a
2.9%
-1.0%
2.0%
3.6%
-2.4%
4.1%
$92,773
$92,725
2.5%
-4.3%
$92,721
$92,719
$92,462
5.1%
n/a
0.5%
$92,441 -2.8%
$92,287
n/a
$92,164
n/a
$92,120 6.3%
$92,035 2.8%
$92,003 4.3%
$91,991
n/a
$91,919 -10.6%
$91,869 4.7%
$91,855 4.2%
$91,800
n/a
$91,652 5.6%
$91,370 4.7%
$91,281 1.4%
$91,259 3.9%
$91,254 1.3%
$91,150 2.4%
$90,948 3.2%
$90,867 -1.4%
$90,643 4.1%
$90,528 3.5%
$90,296 1.5%
$90,187 1.2%
$90,104 2.3%
$90,003 0.0%
$89,909 4.0%
$89,902 2.0%
$89,640 6.0%
$89,560 1.8%
$89,531 5.9%
$89,224 0.9%
$88,963 6.6%
$88,933 5.7%
$88,769 4.4%
$88,744 3.5%
$88,481 4.2%
$88,470 3.0%
$88,212 -3.7%
$88,071 -2.3%
$87,933 -1.3%
$87,921 -0.8%
$87,914 -1.3%
$87,834 0.5%
$87,640 2.6%
$87,628 4.9%
$87,553 13.0%
$87,324 -0.4%
$87,318 1.0%
$87,297 4.1%
$87,288 2.9%
NOTE: Several new tech skills were added to the 2013 survey and therefore yr/yr change is not available.
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
10
Dice Salary Survey Methodology
The 2013 Dice Salary Survey was administered online, with 17,236 employed technology professionals responding
between October 14, 2013 and November 29, 2013. Respondents were invited to participate in the survey through
a notification on the Dice site and registered technology professionals were sent an email invitation. A cookie
methodology was used to ensure that there was no duplication of responses between or within the various sample
groups and duplicate responses from a single email address were removed. The Dice Salary Survey was adjusted
for inflation in 2013: technology professionals earning salaries of $250,000 and above were not automatically
eliminated from the survey if they met other criteria.
About Dice
Technology powers companies. Professionals power technology. Dice quickly delivers the opportunities, insights
and connections technology professionals and employers need to move forward. Learn how to effectively move
forward at www.dice.com
1.877.386.3323
2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey
11