IT stats, IT salaries

We dress it up with a fancy title, the InfoWorld 2006 Compensation Survey, and gussy it up with pages of trend analysis and cross-indexed data. But the bottom line — the first thing almost all of you are jonesing to know — is whether you’re making as much as the next guy. So feel free to jump ahead and check out “Salaries by the Numbers.” Then come back here for some info that the numbers alone won’t provide.

OK, welcome back. I’m assuming you’ve gotten your stat fix. More enlightening, however, may be the stories behind the gaudy statistics. For instance, fewer than half of senior managers surveyed believe that top brass understands the value of IT. Compare that with 2004, when 62 percent said executive management got it. Yet, here’s the disconnect: Despite the perceived vote of no-confidence from the corner office, 56 percent of senior IT managers believe they have adequate funds to get the job done. One year ago, that figure was just 46 percent.

What’s going on here? According to Senior Copy Editor Jason Snyder, who wrote the article after poring over the data and interviewing a slew of respondents, many IT managers now routinely expect to do more with less. “A combination of open source software, strategic outsourcing, and even new development styles such as SOA have dramatically reduced the cost of IT,” Snyder notes.

Simply put, IT doesn’t cost what it used to, so even if upper management cuts funding, IT can get the job done. “Plus, there’s the superhero syndrome,” Snyder adds. Accustomed to scarcity, many tech pros take pride in making paltry budgets seem sufficient.

Even when our superheroes feel they have enough to spend, they may not be able to find personnel to hire. In many interviews, department heads indicated that it’s getting harder to find skilled employees. In fact, when we probed for the greatest staffing problem today, “inability to fill all open IT positions” was cited as the greatest challenge, up from No. 5 in 2005.

“Outsourcing plays a role here,” Snyder says. “As offshore firms take on more complex tasks and responsibilities, many U.S. managers feel under the gun to make these projects work.” Yet overseeing offshore initiatives is getting dicier, and few stateside IT staffers have the experience or skill sets to pull it off. “Workers looking to future-proof their careers should consider project management,” Snyder notes, “since such positions should be plentiful — and hard to fill — in the future.”

For another take on overseas contractors, by the way, I recommend you read this week’s Off the Record, a poignant tale told from an Indian developer’s point of view. It’s a valuable perspective — and one we don’t encounter often enough here in the United States.