Top-paying industries for IT 2014

Compare IT salaries across a sampling of industries and job titles

Some IT professionals fared significantly better than others this year based on the industry in which they work. Somewhat surprisingly, the Computerworld 2014 Salary Survey respondents who reported the biggest pay increases work for nonprofit organizations, where total compensation -- salary plus bonus -- was up 4.4% from the previous year.

Other industries that saw strong increases in total compensation include telecommunications (up 4.3%), entertainment/marketing/advertising (up 4.1%), mining/agriculture/construction/engineering (up 3.4%) and legal/insurance/real estate (up 3.3%).

Read the full report: Computerworld IT Salary Survey 2014

Growth in bonuses was highest for IT pros who work in the legal/insurance/real estate industries, with an average 9% increase, and in telecommunications, with an average 8.6% increase. The industries that saw the largest decreases in bonus payments were education (down 9.7%) and health/medical services (down 7.1%). No industries saw a decrease in total compensation or in salary year-over-year.

Here's a look at the total compensation of a sampling of IT job titles by industry:

Computer services/consulting

  • CIO/vice president of IT: $148,500*
  • IT manager: $123,262*
  • Software engineer: $103,079
  • Application developer: $75,289*
  • Systems administrator: $73,567*
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $45,052

Education

  • CIO/vice president of IT: $168,133*
  • Director of IT: $101,315
  • IT manager: $75,313
  • Network engineer/architect: $71,129*
  • Systems administrator: $59,948
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $48,473

Government

  • Director of IT: $105,805*
  • IT manager: $100,049
  • Technology/business systems analyst: $83,635*
  • Systems administrator: $80,468*
  • Programmer/analyst: $79,573*
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $58,545*

Healthcare

  • CIO/vice president of IT: $175,829*
  • Director of IT: $113,598
  • IT manager: $90,177
  • Systems administrator: $71,824
  • Technology/business systems analyst: $71,018*
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $51,030*

Legal & insurance

  • CIO/vice president of IT: $226,206**
  • Director of IT: $132,715**
  • IT manager: $102,760*
  • Programmer/analyst: $93,811**
  • Systems administrator: $85,329**
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $55,499**

Manufacturing

  • CIO/vice president of IT: $197,781*
  • Director of IT: $132,052*
  • IT manager: $99,050
  • Systems administrator: $73,467*
  • Network administrator: $63,078*
  • Help desk/tech support specialist: $56,052*

* More than 15 responses but fewer than 30** 15 or fewer responses

Next: How we conducted the survey

IT Salaries 2014

This article, Top-paying industries for IT 2014, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Read more about it careers in Computerworld's IT Careers Topic Center.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags IT careersIT managementcomputerworld

More about InteractiveSmartTechnologyTopic

Show Comments
[]