Show me the money … - technology industry salary survey - includes discussions with employees at the Natl Assn of Securities Dealers, CSX Technology and Siemens Business Communications - Industry Trend or Event

Communications News, May, 1997

But Jerry Maguire is more likely to say this than CN readers, who seem to focus more on what they are doing than on how much they are paid.

Communications News readers are not immune to the problems of employees in corporate America generally: too much work to do, not enough resources, limited raises. The major difference is that you really like your work.

Our third annual salary survey got a strong response from readers, who reported that their average salary was $63,118, a 3% increase over the 1996 survey--in other words, just about a cost-of-living increase.

More than half of you (52.6%) reported receiving a bonus, with an average of $9,884. That's skewed by some large bonuses (the maximum reported was $68,000), so the median of $5,000 is a more accurate figure. The low was $200.

You worked hard for those bonuses, and sometimes for nothing. 81% of you worked more than 40 hours a week, 43% of those put in 6-10 extra hours, and 82% did not get paid for those hours.

Despite the hard work and low salary increases, you like your work. Job satisfaction averaged 7.3 on a scale of 10, and career satisfaction 7.8 on a 10-point scale. The median in both cases is 8--very high indeed.

Comments from our readers, and interviews with three of them (see close-ups) focus on the explosive developments in communications technology as a reason for your excitement with your work--and for your frustrations. Many of you wrote comments about how hard it was to keep up with the field.

There are "too many changes coming too quickly," said one senior analyst in a large media company. With technologies merging and emerging, old skills have to be constantly updated. "Employers are searching for a `jack of all trades' to perform the duties that once took many," wrote a LAN manager at a federal agency.

A systems superintendent at a large financial services company caught it in one intense phrase: "Wonderful opportunities--too much work and too many hours needed."

It's probably not surprising that almost 66% of respondents thought they did not have adequate staff for the job.

Of course, we all have a tendency to complain about being misunderstood. One MIS manager wrote: "Most MIS people that I know agree that their departments are short-staffed and that they are over-burdened with responsibilities. It seems that many companies don't understand or realize the importance of their MIS departments."

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. Most of the time, IT professionals are going to upper management with requests for money--the result of being a service (cost) center rasher then a profit center.

One network manager said that she had trouble getting money budgeted for her network because "management just doesn't have an understanding of what we do. Like my mother doesn't have any idea about computers because she's never had them. It's hard to understand something you haven't had much contact with. Top management is not computer oriented."

Many of you are hoping for more training. "With the numerous network management systems a typical analyst/administrator is involved with, training needs to be a top priority in order to maintain the mission-critical systems and applications and still safeguard the company's assets," said a network systems analyst at a large finance institution.

Perhaps employers should be careful--almost half our readers expect to be working for someone else in five years.

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Career and income growth at Janus's company are linked more with performance than with promotions and titles.

"Our company rewards people for exceptional work," she says. "A lot of the compensation comes in that form rather than through promotion."

The company is talking about "flatlining" the organization. says Janus. whose title is regional services manager for the West Coast and Houston. "Instead of a management structure and layers, everyone works as associates on the same level, in a team style of management."

Janus's employer is the technology arm of CSX Corp., the transportation giant that owns CSX Transportation. CSX Intermodal, and Sea-Land.

Janus manages a Banyan Vines network which will transition eventually to an NT network. Thirty of her users are on the network, and the rest--about 150--are on mainframe-connected or standalone PCs. She does PC desktop support as well as network management and hardware and software installation. She also handles security for access rights.

Janus likes her career and her job.

"I like the variety and the flexibility," she says. "Here I can get involved in a lot of different areas."

Perhaps because her network experience overlaps many areas, Janus sees herself more as an IT professional than as an employee of the company. "We're talking the same language." she says of IT professionals.

A disadvantage of being a department of one, she says, is that "you're alone and you have no one to fall back on--you're always on call. But the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks."

The company has cut back on travel, so more of Janus's support work is over the phone, but she still spends time on the road where the company has projects. most often in northern California.