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Survey: When It Comes to Exec IT Salaries, Mainframes Pull Big Bucks
Top IT managers who work with mainframes can expect to earn significantly more than other IT executives, according to the latest salary survey by ESJ.com. (Disclosure: ESJ.com is owned by the same parent company as this Web site.)
Of ESJ.com's readers -- a mix of mainframe, datacenter, server and other enterprise IT professionals -- CIOs and vice presidents in mainframe environments reported the highest average base salary of $232,700 per year. Those with the same title who work in AIX/Unix environments averaged $173,500, followed by $148,600 for those in midrange environments and $114,600 in non-mainframe Windows environments
With other IT management positions (with titles such as IS director, datacenter manager or network manager), those in midrange environments averaged the highest with $158,500, followed by mainframe at $111,750, AIX/Unix at $101,200 and Windows networking at $87,300.
In general, the survey found the average CIO/vice president salary for 2009 is $150,340, up slightly over 2008's average of $149,000. However, the average bonus earned with these titles dropped from $28,500 to $18,000 this year.
Still, it's not that bad of a year. Of the eight management positions this part of the survey covered, six of them saw the average base salary rise (the two that declined are networking manager and help desk/support manager). IT managers and enterprise architects also reported a higher average bonus versus the previous year.
The complete salary survey can be found online here. To jump directly to a breakdown of findings by title, use the following links:
A second part of the survey focused on non-management IT salaries will be released in early September.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is the vice president of Web & Digital Strategy for 1105's Converge360 Group, where she oversees the front-end Web team and deals with all aspects of digital projects at the company, including launching and running the group's popular virtual summit and Coffee talk series . She an experienced tech journalist (20 years), and before her current position, was the editorial director of the group's sites. A few years ago she gave a talk at a leading technical publishers conference about how changes in Web browser technology would impact online advertising for publishers. Follow her on twitter @beckynagel.