Owen Hughes
| November 9, 2021
| Topic: Business
2020 saw the salaries of some tech professionals grow more quickly than others.
Image: Getty
IT managers, system architects, cloud engineers and cybersecurity engineers took home the biggest salaries last year, according to the latest Tech Salary Report from jobs website Dice, with Texas and other emerging hubs taking big leaps forward.
Overall, the salaries of US tech professionals grew 3.6% between 2019 and 2020, reaching an average of $97,859. This was despite many businesses tightening budgets in response to the financial pressures caused by the pandemic.
“Oracle, for example, recently announced that it would shift its headquarters from its longtime Silicon Valley home to Austin; and if a tech giant like that is willing to make a move, others may follow.”
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An unexpected finding in Dice’s report is that, among the 9,000 or so tech professionals surveyed, only 45% held formal technical certifications. Given how many employers request that job candidates possess highly specialised certifications — combined with the fact that the industry is currently facing a shortage of talent — Dice noted that the findings were surprising.
“Of those who do not have technical certifications, some 51% said certifications weren’t needed in their role, for example, while 16% said that their employer wasn’t willing to pay for the requisite training and testing, and 14% said they didn’t have the time to earn one,” the report said.
In 2020, 56% of technologists said they were satisfied with their current salaries, a marked increase from the 49% who reported salary satisfaction in 2019.
Even so, nearly half (46%) of those surveyed felt they were they are underpaid relative to others who shared their occupation and skill level. “It’s certainly possible that, given the economic uncertainty stemming from the pandemic, large numbers of technologists lowered their expectations when it came to salary, leading to higher levels of satisfaction even if they felt they were underpaid,” said Dice.
“If that’s the case, those same technologists may become less satisfied with their compensation once they feel the broader economy has stabilized — which may, in turn, leave them hungrier for larger salaries, raises, and bonuses in 2021 and beyond.”
CXO
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