$68,900

$86,600

$113,200

$97,800

$72,000

Weve got
your numbers.
Dice Tech Salary Survey Results
Released January 24, 2012

Table of Contents
Five-year trend in tech salaries.................................... page 3
Bonus trend.................................................................. page 3
Salary by employment type.......................................... page 3
Markets with above average salary growth................. page 4
Salary satisfaction......................................................... page 4
Salary by experience.................................................... page 5

$72,000
Web
Developer

Salary by metro............................................................ page 6

Salary by region............................................................ page 6
Earning power by changing employers........................ page 7
Salary by job title.......................................................... page 7
Salary for popular tech skills and experience............... page 8
Salary by company size................................................. page 10
Salary by education level.............................................. page 10
Employee motivators................................................... page 10
Biggest career concerns............................................... page 11
Salary by industry......................................................... page 11

Dice Salary Survey Methodology

The Dice Salary Survey was administered online with 18,325 employed technology professionals
responding between September 19 and November 21, 2011. Respondents were invited to
participate in the survey through a notification on the Dice home page, 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.

Dice Tech Salary Survey Results

Released January 24, 2012

Tech professionals see pay jump.

Bonus popularity on the rise.
Technology professionals enjoyed their largest
annual salary growth since 2008, according to
the latest Dice Tech Salary Survey. After two
straight years of wages remaining nearly flat, tech
professionals on average garnered salary increases
of more than 2%, boosting their average annual
wage to $81,327 from $79,384 in 2010.
A more considerable jump was noted in both size of
average bonuses, up 8% to $8,769, and the number
of technology professionals receiving bonuses: 32%
in 2011, compared with 29% in 2010 and 24% in 2009.
The industries most likely to pay out bonuses: Telecom,
Hardware, Banking, Utilities/Energy and Software.

Five-year trend in average U.S. tech salaries

$90,000
$80,000

$78,035

$78,845

$79,384

$81,327

2008

2009

2010

2011

$74,570

$70,000
$60,000

2007

Tech professionals receiving bonuses

$8,769

Finally! Compensation has mustered some momentum,

32%
$8,120
as more and more top tech markets are notching
29%
increases in pay. Silicon Valleys compensation moved
first and wrote the playbook for highly qualified tech
2010
2011
professionals to ask for more whether that be in
Seattle, Houston or Raleigh, said Tom Silver, SVP, North
America at Dice. The increasing popularity of bonuses
shows companies are rewarding their top performers. While everyone loves a bonus, anyone who
has been through a cycle knows that bonuses both reward and punish. In fast-changing markets, its
imperative for highly skilled tech professionals to capitalize on their career and compensation options.

Average salary by employment type

$109,000
Data
Architect

U.S. Average
Full-Time Workers
Consultant
Consultant (Base Rate Per Hour)

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$79,384
$77,361
$98,266
$61.11

$81,327
$78,308
$99,807
$62.55

2.4%
1.2%
1.6%
2.4%

Page 3

Six-figure Silicon Valley

In Silicon Valley, annual tech salaries
topped six figures for the first time
since the survey began about a
decade ago. The highest in the nation,
Silicon Valleys annual salary of
$104,195, increased 5% year/year. In
addition, bonuses are both fatter and
more frequent in Silicon Valley with
38% of tech professionals receiving
bonuses at an average of $12,450.

Top tech markets with above average salary growth

$89,419

Ausn

$82,055

Portland

$89,307

Houston

$94,317

Washington DC/Balmore

$104,195

Silicon Valley

While the Valleys resurgence is well

documented, other tech markets did
exceptionally well too. In fact, 12 of
the top 20 cities for tech jobs had
above average wage growth. Austin
had a 13% jump in pay to average
$89,419. Portland showed an annual
wage increase of 12% to $82,055;
Houston saw 7% growth ($89,307);
and Washington D.C./Baltimore
experienced nearly 6% growth
($94,317).
Chicago and Seattle each garnered
5% increases in average tech salaries,
Denver and Dallas/Ft. Worth managed
4% growth, while New York, Los
Angeles and Raleigh, North Carolina
each increased 3%.
Conventional wisdom says that
as Silicon Valley goes, so goes the
tech world. Thats true, and Silicon
Valley is going well, but it doesnt
tell the entire story when it comes
to tech employment, added Mr.
Silver. Nationally, were seeing stiffer
competition and higher salaries for
tech pros with the right skill sets and
the right experience level.

$83,970

Chicago

$90,362

Seale

$86,590

Denver

$84,589

Dallas/Ft Worth

$90,042

New York

$87,183

Los Angeles

Raleigh

$79,830

7%

14%

Tech salary satisfaction

Very Dissatisfied
Avg. Salary
$59,354

Very Satisfied
Avg. Salary $99,622

12%
22%

Somewhat Dissatisfied
Avg. Salary $71,119

17%

Somewhat Satisfied
Avg. Salary $86,730

35%
14%
Neither Satisfied
Nor Dissatisfied
Avg. Salary $79,677

Page 4

Difference makers: skills and experience

While salaries are on the rise among technology professionals, entry-level salaries continue to be
pushed downward, according to the survey. The professionals who generally saw their wages increase
were those with 11 or more years of experience in their field.
Average salary by experience
Less than 1 year
1 - 2 years
3 - 5 years
6 - 10 years
11 - 14 years
More than 15 years

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$41,996
$46,720
$57,313
$72,458
$86,211
$95,399

$40,821
$44,121
$55,969
$69,376
$87,088
$99,250

-2.8%
-5.6%
-2.3%
-4.3%
1.0%
4.0%

The skills that commanded six-figure salaries and had above average year/year growth are:


ABAP Advanced Business Application Programming

SOA Service Oriented Architecture

ETL Extract Transform and Load

WebLogic

JDBC Java Database Connectivity

UML Unified Modeling Language
JBoss
WebSphere

2011 Avg. Salary

$109,157
$108,210
$106,521
$103,702
$102,630
$102,579
$102,184
$100,348

This looks like a push towards enterprise java with WebSphere, JBoss
and WebLogic showing outsized gains, said Alice Hill, Managing Director,
Dice.com. Not to mention, a continuation of the trends weve seen toward
tech professionals helping their companies gain more insight into their cost
structures, customer behavior and emerging trends. If tech professionals
spark companies to win by harnessing their data, thats when the tech
department is no longer seen as a cost center, but a strategic partner in
meeting companies goals.

Yr/Yr Growth
3%
6%
6%
5%
5%
6%
5%
7%

$72,000
Web
Developer

$113,200
IT Director

Page 5

Average salary by metro area

Silicon Valley
Washington D.C./Baltimore
Seattle
New York
Austin
Houston
Boston
Hartford
Los Angeles
Sacramento
Denver
San Diego
Charlotte
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Chicago
Atlanta
Portland, OR
Philadelphia
Minneapolis
Raleigh
Miami
Columbus
Kansas City
Phoenix
Tampa
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Detroit
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

2010

2011

Yr/YrChange

$99,028
$89,149
$86,168
$87,298
$79,375
$83,625
$86,782
$81,172
$84,551
$82,237
$83,168
$85,617
$82,825
$81,579
$79,933
$82,944
$73,096
$81,986
$81,683
$77,825
$68,008
$74,615
$66,878
$77,141
$69,711
$71,539
$69,610
$71,445
$66,725
$65,449

$104,195
$94,317
$90,362
$90,042
$89,419
$89,307
$88,657
$88,546
$87,183
$87,114
$86,590
$85,841
$84,795
$84,589
$83,970
$82,235
$82,055
$81,041
$80,767
$79,830
$77,960
$76,522
$75,387
$74,950
$72,802
$71,686
$71,644
$71,455
$68,519
$64,519

5.2%
5.8%
4.9%
3.1%
12.7%
6.8%
2.2%
9.1%
3.1%
5.9%
4.1%
0.3%
2.4%
3.7%
5.0%
-0.9%
12.3%
-1.2%
-1.1%
2.6%
14.6%
2.6%
12.7%
-2.8%
4.4%
0.2%
2.9%
0.0%
2.7%
-1.4%

2010

2011

$88,208
$83,194
$79,150
$82,003
$76,005
$73,951
$72,578

$91,102
$86,324
$81,966
$81,938
$78,272
$77,751
$73,762

Average salary by region

Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)
New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT)
South Atlantic (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)
Mid. Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)
Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)
South Central (AL, AR, KY, LA, MS, OK, TN, TX)
North Central (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)

Yr/Yr Change
3.3%
3.8%
3.6%
-0.1%
3.0%
5.1%
1.6%

Page 6

Within the next year, do you anticipate earning more money by changing
employers vs. staying where you are?
Yes
Avg. Salary $75,140

38%

N/A - Business owner

Avg. Salary $104,097 - 1%

26%

No
Avg. Salary $89,589

35%
Not sure - Dont know
Avg. Salary $80,903

Average salary by job title

IT Management (CEO, CIO, CTO, VP, Dir., Strategist, Architect)
Information Architecture
Systems Architect
Data Architect
Project Manager
Security Engineer
Developer: Systems
Network Design
MIS Manager
Software Engineer
Developer: Database
Database Administrator
Developer: Applications
Business Analyst
Developer: Client/Server
Security Analyst
Programmer/Analyst
Technical Writer
Quality Assurance (QA) Tester
Network Engineer
Web Developer/Programmer
IT Technical Training
Systems Administrator
Web Administrator
Network Manager
Web Designer
Technical Support
Desktop Support Specialist
Help Desk
PC Technician

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$112,386
$111,098
n/a
$108,842
$100,143
n/a
$91,487
n/a
$89,142
$89,419
$85,218
$88,443
$85,075
$87,055
$84,909
$78,288
$75,427
$72,512
$72,542
$70,681
$69,621
$64,288
$69,311
n/a
$60,134
n/a
$50,318
$48,247
$40,102
$38,973

$113,162
$112,670
$111,985
$108,961
$104,398
$97,809
$95,664
$94,898
$94,255
$93,142
$92,662
$91,769
$86,627
$85,979
$85,850
$78,396
$76,965
$76,114
$75,498
$74,687
$71,962
$69,123
$68,900
$65,192
$61,444
$61,307
$50,913
$46,752
$40,245
$37,236

0.7%
1.4%
n/a
0.1%
4.2%
n/a
4.6%
n/a
5.7%
4.2%
8.7%
3.8%
1.8%
-1.2%
1.1%
0.1%
2.0%
5.0%
4.1%
5.7%
3.4%
7.5%
-0.6%
n/a
2.2%
n/a
1.2%
-3.1%
0.4%
-4.5%

Page 7

Average salary for popular tech skills and experience

ABAP - Advanced Business Application Programming
SOA - Service Oriented Architecture
CMMI - Capability Maturity Model Integration
ETL - Extract Transform and Load
Informatica
WebLogic
JDBC - Java Database Connectivity
UML - Unified Modeling Language
Azure
JBoss
Fortran
Scrum
WebSphere
Glassfish
SDLC - Systems Development Life Cycle
Business Intelligence
ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
JSP - Java Server Pages
SOX - Sarbanes Oxley
Solaris
Agile
FCoE - Fibre Channel over Ethernet
Teradata
AIX
SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol
ITIL - Information Technology Infrastructure Library
Korn Shell
Rexx
Siebel
Change Management
HP-UX
SaaS - Software as a Service
TOAD - Tool for Application Developers
Tomcat
Sybase
Objective C
EMC
Data Warehouse
Hitachi
JD Edwards
Oracle DB
Amazon S-3
DB2
Load Balancers
Perl
Cognos
MVS - Multiple Virtual Storage
z/OS

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$105,887
$101,827
n/a
$100,983
$101,898
$98,403
$98,100
$96,538
n/a
$96,916
n/a
n/a
$94,163
n/a
$93,757
$95,999
$95,286
$93,813
$95,439
$94,429
n/a
$92,494
n/a
$93,684
$97,929
$93,118
$96,886
n/a
$89,851
$91,263
$92,662
$94,188
$94,400
$89,989
$92,855
n/a
$91,079
$96,613
n/a
$91,786
$90,914
n/a
$89,159
n/a
$94,210
$87,383
n/a
n/a

$109,157
$108,210
$107,558
$106,521
$104,223
$103,702
$102,630
$102,579
$102,510
$102,184
$101,148
$100,843
$100,348
$100,226
$99,802
$99,763
$99,668
$99,656
$99,618
$99,493
$99,299
$98,894
$98,777
$98,608
$98,311
$98,159
$98,042
$97,611
$97,528
$96,749
$96,706
$95,998
$95,813
$95,677
$95,661
$95,571
$95,563
$95,287
$94,967
$94,964
$94,897
$94,843
$94,490
$94,367
$94,045
$93,915
$93,787
$93,721

3.1%
6.3%
n/a
5.5%
2.3%
5.4%
4.6%
6.3%
n/a
5.4%
n/a
n/a
6.6%
n/a
6.4%
3.9%
4.6%
6.2%
4.4%
5.4%
n/a
6.9%
n/a
5.3%
0.4%
5.4%
1.2%
n/a
8.5%
6.0%
4.4%
1.9%
1.5%
6.3%
3.0%
n/a
4.9%
-1.4%
n/a
3.5%
4.4%
n/a
6.0%
n/a
-0.2%
7.5%
n/a
n/a

Page 8

Average salary for popular tech skills and experience (continued)

Informix
Six Sigma
C
Cloud Computing
PowerBuilder
NetApp
Microsoft Project
Ruby on Rails
Salesforce.com
Wan Opt
Java / J2EE
Fibre Channel
Visual C++
Postgres
Red Hat
IMS - IP Multimedia Subsystem
PL/SQL
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
SAP
QA / Quality Assurance
CRM - Customer Relationship Management
Unified Communications
C#
Tivoli
C++
Amazon Web Services
Visio
MPLS - Multi Protocol Label Switching
Python
Compellent
Ajax
Shell
TSO/ISPF
Unix
Disaster Recovery
CICS - Customer Information Control System
vCloud
Oracle Application Server
SharePoint / Frontpage
SUSE
Metro Ethernet
Telepresence
XML - eXtensible Markup Language
RPG
COBOL
CL
HIPAA
Lawson

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

n/a
n/a
$90,346
$88,995
n/a
$87,920
$88,816
$89,973
n/a
n/a
$91,060
$87,161
$88,227
n/a
$88,223
n/a
$89,742
n/a
$87,350
$86,456
$88,602
$89,862
$85,501
n/a
$86,648
n/a
n/a
$89,476
$90,208
n/a
$85,016
$88,918
$84,503
n/a
$85,460
$85,581
n/a
$88,063
$84,747
$85,032
$84,100
$89,217
$87,022
n/a
$85,847
n/a
n/a
n/a

$93,714
$93,621
$93,316
$92,830
$92,780
$92,647
$92,117
$92,020
$91,846
$91,830
$91,728
$91,598
$91,311
$91,276
$90,915
$90,898
$90,834
$90,716
$90,357
$90,217
$90,205
$90,183
$89,996
$89,965
$89,862
$89,833
$89,802
$89,731
$89,474
$89,463
$89,410
$89,372
$89,190
$89,065
$89,053
$88,950
$88,854
$88,850
$88,296
$88,292
$88,261
$88,243
$88,093
$87,990
$87,882
$87,759
$87,727
$87,681

n/a
n/a
3.3%
4.3%
n/a
5.4%
3.7%
2.3%
n/a
n/a
0.7%
5.1%
3.5%
n/a
3.1%
n/a
1.2%
n/a
3.4%
4.4%
1.8%
0.4%
5.3%
n/a
3.7%
n/a
n/a
0.3%
-0.8%
n/a
5.2%
0.5%
5.5%
n/a
4.2%
3.9%
n/a
0.9%
4.2%
3.8%
4.9%
-1.1%
1.2%
n/a
2.4%
n/a
n/a
n/a

Page 9

Average salary by company size

Less than 50 employees
50 - 99 employees
100 - 499 employees
500 - 999 employees
1,000 - 4,999 employees
5,000 or more employees

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$69,658
$71,264
$74,906
$77,433
$81,203
$88,075

$69,424
$73,249
$76,739
$77,602
$82,860
$90,533

-0.3%
2.8%
2.4%
0.2%
2.0%
2.8%

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$60,116
$69,927
$78,788
$93,465
$100,120

$59,729
$72,197
$81,536
$98,911
$112,775

-0.6%
3.2%
3.5%
5.8%
12.6%

Average salary by education level

Vocational/Tech School
Some College
College Graduate (4-Year)
Masters Degree
Doctoral Degree

What was the primary motivator your employer provided you in 2011?
None - No motivator provided

N/A - Business owner - 1%

Other
High level recognition - 1%
Training and
certification courses
Promotion or new title

38%

6%
4%
5%
11%

Flexible
work hours
$68,900
Systems
Administrator

18%
16%

Increased
compensation

More interesting
or challenging
assignments

Page 10

For 2012, whats the biggest concern you have about your career?
Finding an appropriate new position for my skill set
Keeping skills up-to-date / being valuable to employer
Position elimination
Increased workload
No concerns at this time
Lower salary increases / lower billing rates
Cancelled projects / fewer projects
Increased outsourcing
Position relocation
Other

19%
15%
14%
13%
11%
10%
8%
5%
2%
3%

$86,600
Application
Developer

Average salary by industry

Bank / Financial / Insurance
Aerospace & Defense
Computer Software
Medical / Pharmaceutical / Biotechnology
Telecommunications
Government
Healthcare Providers
Computer Hardware
Manufacturing
Internet Services
Retail / Mail Order / E-Commerce

2010

2011

Yr/Yr Change

$88,553
n/a
$83,724
n/a
$82,420
n/a
n/a
$75,426
$74,900
$76,898
$75,047

$91,267
$88,232
$86,708
$84,361
$83,748
$79,605
$79,200
$78,789
$78,053
$75,495
$75,495

3.1%
n/a
3.6%
n/a
1.6%
n/a
n/a
4.5%
4.2%
-1.8%
0.6%

About Dice
Dice, a Dice Holdings, Inc. service, is the leading career site for technology and engineering
professionals. With a 21-year track record of meeting the ever-changing needs of technology
professionals, companies and recruiters, our specialty focus and exposure to highly skilled
professional communities enable employers to reach hard-to-find, experienced and qualified
technology and engineering candidates. www.Dice.com

Dice. All rights reserved.

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