High-Tech Reality Check

Just because you helped create cyberspace doesn’t mean you live there. Tired of seeing headlines blaring the astronomical wealth of adolescent programming prodigies? Wondering how the dot-com hype applies to your career as an experienced software engineer or technical project manager? Here are the answers to your questions about skills and pay in the real—not the virtual—world.What does a software engineer or technical manager make? If he (88 percent are men) has 13 years’ experience and is 39 years old, as the Software Development 2000 salary survey’s average respondent was, he earns $77,770 per year as base salary—make that $72,742 if he’s staff, $87,603 if he’s management—and enjoyed an eight percent raise last year. Throw in additional compensation in the form of bonuses or other direct cash payments, and the figure jumps to $94,947 for staff and $105,949 for managers. Almost 50 percent of respondents have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or another information technology science, and 22 percent have a bachelor’s degree in another field. Most work 47 hours per week, 62 percent are satisfied or very satisfied with their total compensation package, and 69 percent are in demand: They have been contacted an average of six times in the last year by a head hunter working for other firms. Though the recruiters may be putting in overtime, it looks as though Web-focused ventures are far from grabbing the lion’s share of developers, newspaper coverage notwithstanding. Only 10 percent of all respondents work for an Internet start-up company; a slightly higher number (20 percent) of managers at the vice presidential level said they work for the fabled dot-coms.

Compared to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 1998 National Compensation Survey (the most recent data available), experienced software developers are doing much better than the U.S. average. Computer systems analysts and scientists in the government survey earned $27.89 an hour, or $58,011 per year, and computer programmers earned $22.06 an hour, or $45,884 per year. In the Silicon Valley (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose), average compensation is much higher, however, mirroring the national data in Software Development’s survey of experienced developers. Hourly wages for computer scientists and programmers were $37.21 ($77,396 per year) and $32.14 ($66,851 per year), respectively, according to Department of Labor regional data (San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA National Compensation Survey, June 1999).

Methodology

This third annual salary survey was prepared by the editors of Software Development in partnership with InformationWeek, which conducts one of the largest salary surveys in the IT field. Hewitt Associates LLC, a global management consulting firm that regularly conducts professional compensation and benefits studies, helped with designing the questionnaire. Data collection and tabulation were provided by CIC Research Inc. in San Diego, California.

The survey kicked off in July 2000 with an e-mail invitation to participate in the Web-based survey, which was received by 63,343 software developers and technical managers. The response rate to that mailing was four percent; additional respondents participated after seeing advertising banners posted at SDmagazine.com and other CMP Media sites. After removing incomplete surveys, responses from outside the United States and outliers (those whose data falls outside of acceptable norms, skewing averages), the data pool came to 2,758—several times the minimum needed for statistical validity.

Staff vs. Management

This year, the survey separated staff from management and also asked respondents to rate their level of responsibility. Staff could choose from one (assigned to small projects or to phases of larger projects; applies knowledge of particular field of specialization at a basic level) to five (technical "guru" responsible for solving the most technical and complex problems). Managers had to choose from four options: level one (supervises, hires and fires assigned employees), level two (manages a group of sufficient size or complexity to require supervisory subordinates), vice president or director, and finally chief information officer or equivalent. As expected, only four percent identified themselves at that top level; the average base salary for these executives was $110,000 per year, with a quarter of respondents earning $84,000 or less and another quarter earning $154,000 or more.

The functional areas defined in this survey were the same for staff and management, but titles varied for each category. Because titles can differ from company to company and region to region, it’s more useful to examine primary functional areas when comparing salaries. Out of a possible twelve areas ranging from security analysis to technical support, the tables here show average salaries for the seven most popular functional areas among survey respondents. These are application design, application development, Internet development, project management, quality assurance, database analysis and development, and systems integration or business analysis.

Top Skills

Those who worked with CORBA, COM or other middleware reported the highest mean salaries: $77,379 for staff and $91,955 for managers. XML or EDI skills were also highly paid, followed by components such as JavaBeans or Active X, object-oriented languages such as Java and C++, scripting languages, and C or other procedural languages. Databases were associated with staff salaries in the low 70s ($72,601) and management salaries in the high 80s ($87,500). Groupware, rapid application development (RAD) environments and structured programming languages like COBOL or Fortran were associated with the lowest salaries.

But many respondents mentioned other technology categories—and the range, from structured to Web-based, was impressive. Ada and assembler were popular, along with old reporting languages (RPG, Progress). ColdFusion, HTML, Java Server Pages and Active Server Pages dominated Web production. Enterprise resource planning packages like Peoplesoft, Baan and SAP abounded, along with RAD in the form of Delphi, Object Pascal and Powerbuilder. Rarities included Pick Basic, "COBOL vintage 1970," Lisp, Modula-2, Natural, LabView, Tibco middleware, Chill, Python, Eiffel and C#.

Client/server is still the number one application developed in IT departments, though the Internet is fast attaining similar dominance. E-commerce projects occupy 35 percent of respondents, and real-time or embedded systems are the domain of a quarter of these developers. Mobile systems, open-source software and games or multimedia each occupy less than 10 percent of respondents’ time. Again, among additional application categories mentioned by respondents, some interesting gems were found: computer vision, plenty of approaches to data-massaging (visualizing, analyzing, cleansing, migrating, warehousing, mining, acquiring, collecting), geophysical and mapping tools, engineering and scientific modeling and simulation, and a plethora of retail point-of-sale projects.

Though respondents tended to rate object-oriented development, architectural design, and programming and algorithm design as the most important skills for developers today, many of those who wrote in additional thoughts focused on the "softer" areas of interpersonal communication skills, problem analysis and requirements gathering and usability engineering. And one respondent pulled no punches. The most important skills, according to this developer? "Hypocrisy and self-promotion."

Gender Figures

The number of women responding to the annual Software Development salary survey continues to rise, from 8 percent in 1998 to 11 percent in 1999 and 12 percent in 2000. These minor increases do not yet speak to changes in overall demographics; they may simply reflect a greater penetration into the existing pool of female programmers due to improved survey methodology.

Adhering to stereotype, application testing and quality assurance appears to be the area that boasts the best proportion of women to men. Among testers, 26 percent of staff respondents—more than twice the rate of women in development overall—and 32 percent of managers were women. However, in terms of sheer numbers, the majority of female staff respondents were involved primarily in application design or development, even though they made up only 12 percent of those job functions in this survey. Among managers, most women were in project management, followed by application development and QA. While these managers made up a third of the project managers, they comprised only nine percent of developers.

The most common staff titles for women were software engineer and programmer/analyst, followed by technical project leader, quality assurance or test engineer, software architect and business analyst. As did men, most women staff respondents characterized their level of responsibility at three out of a possible five levels, indicating they work beyond the routine nature of tasks using specialized knowledge, they design and deliver several components of a project or complex components of a project or solution, and they are fully competent in their specialty. It’s worth noting that many people spend the bulk of their career at this level. Male and female respondents had identical experience in the field (an average of 13 years) and the same staff-to-management split (50 percent).

 

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Internet Development Functions include development and maintenance of Internet/intranet/extranet/Web applications. Technologies applied may include TCP/IP addressing, HTML, CGI, firewall and related security, search engines or browsers. May design, implement and support electronic commerce. Table 1. Overall Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Staff $72,584 $60,000 $73,000 $85,667 Management $95,078 $80,000 $91,500 $110,000 Staff by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $75,514 $62,500 $74,000 $93,000 Midwest $71,522 $63,500 $74,000 $84,250 South $68,571 $54,000 $70,000 $84,000 West $75,379 $60,000 $77,500 $96,000 Management by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $96,333 $83,250 $91,500 $117,500 Midwest $89,133 $76,500 $82,000 $111,000 South $95,308 $82,000 $95,000 $110,000 West $98,611 $80,625 $102,500 $119,000   Application Design Gathers customer/user requirements, designs and models packaged or corporate computer programs. May be familiar with the Unified Modeling Language. Sets functional and user interface specifications. May develop or supervise coding to specifications. Table 2. Overall Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Staff $82,526 $67,833 $81,000 $95,167 Management $86,611 $73,500 $87,500 $100,000 Staff by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $75,797 $62,625 $76,500 $91,250 36 to 45 $87,296 $72,250 $85,500 $9,750 46 to 55 $84,857 $68,750 $85,500 $100,625 Management by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $81,143 $71,167 $87,000 $93,250 36 to 45 $89,838 $74,000 $88,000 $106,000 Staff by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $63,481 $51,000 $64,000 $78,500 6 to 10 years $78,316 $67,000 $77,000 $94,500 11 to 15 years $85,309 $73,500 $84,000 $96,500 16 to 20 years $90,488 $76,500 $92,000 $111,000 Over 20 years $91,321 $71,250 $91,000 $115,250 Management by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 6 to 10 years $79,880 $72,000 $83,000 $92,000 11 to 15 years $91,444 $82,750 $94,000 $104,750 16 to 20 years $101,091 $82,000 $110,000 $130,000 Staff by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $77,296 $62,500 $80,000 $94,000 Male $83,293 $68,000 $81,500 $96,000 Management by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $81,286 $64,000 $83,000 insufficient data Male $87,185 $74,333 $89,333 $100,000 Staff by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $84,698 $69,833 $84,000 $95,500 Midwest $70,156 $61,000 $70,000 $80,000 South $81,786 $67,417 $81,833 $96,750 West $93,058 $78,000 $94,167 $110,250 Management by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $86,846 $72,000 $95,000 $106,000 Midwest $85,941 $81,000 $90,000 $109,000 South $81,000 $72,750 $79,667 $91,625 West $98,429 $83,000 $98,000 $128,750   Application Testing/Quality Assurance Drives quality in the design, development and execution of applications. Ensures quality of testing procedures and results; writes, designs and develops test cases with application development staff and users; executes tests and documents results. Table 3. Overall Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Staff $65,436 $54,417 $63,750 $77,375 Management $82,887 $65,625 $81,500 $104,250 Staff by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $60,667 $51,333 $64,000 $77,000 36 to 45 $69,364 $55,000 $72,000 $84,000 46 to 55 $65,750 $60,250 $62,750 $87,500 Management by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $79,500 $63,000 $79,500 $111,250 36 to 45 $83,242 $66,000 $85,000 $98,500 46 to 55 $88,833 $76,500 $90,000 $113,000 Staff by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $54,625 $43,750 $55,500 $65,250 6 to 10 years $65,118 $56,000 $66,000 $78,500 11 to 15 years $67,944 $57,667 $72,500 $80,75 Management by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 6 to 10 years $78,778 $65,250 $78,000 $105,750 11 to 15 years $86,400 $71,750 $83,000 $111,750 16 to 20 years $86,909 $72,000 $94,000 $107,500 Staff by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $64,550 $53,500 $63,500 $78,875 Male $65,930 $55,000 $65,000 $78,000 Management by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $77,350 $59,750 $77,000 $105,500 Male $85,524 $71,000 $86,500 $104,750 Staff by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $68,692 $55,000 $74,000 $85,000 Midwest $63,867 $52,750 $64,000 $79,500 South $58,118 $51,000 $58,000 $72,000 West $68,636 $60,000 $66,000 $80,500 Management by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $92,941 $81,000 $95,000 $110,000 Midwest $88,000 $65,000 $86,000 insufficient data South $72,125 $57,750 $69,000 $96,750 West $81,318 $66,250 $77,750 $106,875   Application Development Codes, debugs, documents, deploys and maintains computer programs. May work with and modify packaged applications; may build or use components. May support or train business customers. In the absence of an application architect or on projects of lesser complexity, gathers customer requirements and specifies functionality. Table 4. Overall Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Staff $71,545 $57,000 $70,000 $81,000 Management $86,732 $70,417 $83,833 $100,000 Staff by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 25 or less $51,429 $44,500 $52,250 $59,917 26 to 35 $68,335 $52,583 $64,833 $75,000 36 to 45 $75,783 $62,000 $74,333 $85,000 46 to 55 $73,385 $58,125 $72,000 $85,000 Over 55 $68,150 $56,750 $72,167 $83,500 Management by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $83,617 $70,500 $84,333 $96,000 36 to 45 $89,635 $71,875 $85,833 $104,417 46 to 55 $88,000 $69,833 $81,000 $107,000 Staff by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $61,421 $47,583 $55,000 $65,000 6 to 10 years $70,331 $56,250 $69,333 $77,167 11 to 15 years $74,249 $62,000 $73,667 $85,000 16 to 20 years $77,406 $65,250 $78,000 $88,583 Over 20 years $81,046 $69,500 $79,000 $89,833 Management by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $70,545 $55,625 $71,500 $88,000 6 to 10 years $79,486 $63,500 $79,000 $93,750 11 to 15 years $90,052 $75,500 $86,500 $99,583 16 to 20 years $92,627 $76,000 $91,000 $105,000 Over 20 years $96,306 $80,375 $94,500 $118,833 Staff by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $65,206 $52,000 $64,333 $79,000 Male $72,192 $57,000 $70,000 $82,000 Management by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $79,450 $65,250 $78,500 $98,125 Male $87,376 $71,083 $85,000 $100,000 Staff by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $72,209 $59,500 $72,000 $84,500 Midwest $66,139 $52,250 $62,167 $74,417 South $67,319 $53,750 $68,000 $79,250 West $78,815 $63,833 $75,333 $86,000 Management by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $89,440 $73,250 $89,167 $105,750 Midwest $79,278 $62,250 $74,833 $92,625 South $85,946 $72,750 $83,000 $98,250 West $92,209 $76,500 $94,000 $109,250   Project Management Plans and schedules software projects. Estimates costs, program size and development effort, and manages risks and budgets. May evaluate developer productivity, recommend software development processes and guide technology selection. Table 5. Overall Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Staff $77,345 $65,583 $75,000 $88,167 Management $88,245 $75,000 $85,667 $101,167 Staff by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $74,871 $64,500 $73,000 $86,250 36 to 45 $77,417 $68,750 $74,500 $90,500 46 to 55 $82,227 $71,500 $85,250 $98,750 Management by Age Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 26 to 35 $84,143 $71,250 $83,500 $94,583 36 to 45 $90,222 $75,000 $89,000 $105,500 46 to 55 $91,716 $75,833 $92,500 $109,167 Over 55 $81,000 $73,500 $82,000 $97,750 Staff by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $67,400 $58,750 $70,500 $97,500 6 to 10 years $77,250 $68,250 $74,250 $91,500 11 to 15 years $75,542 $65,875 $74,833 $88,250 16 to 20 years $77,250 $64,750 $77,500 $93,500 Over 20 years $87,786 $73,250 $90,500 $100,833 Management by Years of Experience Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile 5 years or less $72,765 $55,375 $71,667 $86,500 6 to 10 years $81,784 $70,250 $80,250 $91,500 11 to 15 years $90,465 $77,667 $89,667 $104,000 16 to 20 years $93,750 $78,750 $92,250 $109,250 Over 20 years $93,369 $75,500 $92,000 $109,667 Staff by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $73,938 $63,500 $73,500 $86,250 Male $78,147 $67,375 $74,833 $89,500 Management by Gender Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Female $82,386 $69,000 $81,000 $95,000 Male $89,366 $75,000 $87,000 $102,000 Staff by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $74,778 $64,250 $71,000 $97,500 Midwest $69,923 $64,000 $70,000 $85,000 South $77,964 $68,750 $78,000 $89,250 West $83,917 $69,833 $80,250 $102,000 Management by Region Mean 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile East $91,256 $77,125 $92,750 $105,917 Midwest $85,352 $72,250 $81,500 $96,500 South $86,382 $73,250 $84,000 $100,000 West $91,797 $75,500 $90,000 $108,500