How the 2015 Computerworld IT Salary Survey was conducted

The 29th annual Computerworld IT Salary Survey was administered via the Internet. Both Computerworld digital magazine subscribers and visitors to Computerworld.com were included in the survey.

Starting on Oct. 2, 2014, the following methods were utilized to invite participants to take the survey:

Visitors to Computerworld.com were presented with a pop-up box inviting them to participate in the survey (with a frequency cap of once per user). Visitors were given the option of bypassing the survey to get to their intended destinations.

Links to the survey were shared in various Computerworld email newsletters, on the Web and via social media.

Computerworld digital magazine subscribers employed in IT job functions were sent an email message inviting them to participate in the survey. Sample members could either click on the address to gain access to the questionnaire or enter the address using a Web browser. A survey could not be submitted more than once for each respondent.

Read the full report: Computerworld IT Salary Survey 2015

Cookies were used to ensure that there was no duplication of responses between or within the various sample groups. In addition, duplicate responses from the same email address were removed.

The survey ended Dec. 18, 2014. A total of 5,484 individuals responded to the survey. Of those respondents, 4,863 were employed full time or part time and were eligible to complete the entire survey. At the 95% confidence level, the margin of error for this sample size is 1.4 percentage points.

Demographics

Eighty-five percent of the respondents were men, 99% were employed full time, and 44% reported a bachelor's degree as their highest level of education. Respondents had worked in IT for an average of 19 years, and their average age was 47.

Fifty-eight percent indicated that they had some level of IT certification.

Eighty-four percent of our respondents reported holding the same job title as they had the previous year. Forty-seven percent indicated that they were in management, and 53% said they held staff or technical positions.

The organizations the respondents worked for employed an average total of 7,315 people each and had an average of 652 IT staffers each. The average 2014 revenue of respondents' employers was $2.58 billion. Forty-five percent of the respondents worked for private companies, while 22% worked for public companies, 13% worked in government, 10% in education and 10% at nonprofits.

The best-represented industry in the sample was IT services, with 14% of the respondents saying they worked in that field. Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported living in the North Central region of the U.S., 19% reported living in the Northeast, and 18% said they live in the Southeast, making those geographic areas the best represented.

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Read the full report: Computerworld IT Salary Survey 2015