Which IT Pro Roles Pay The Best?


It’s the question every IT worker asks: which specialisation should I choose to maximise my earning potential? Right now, if you’re looking for a lucrative job, enterprise architecture and cloud computing top the bill. Check out these salary tables for more insights.

Currency picture from Shutterstock

The ICT Salary & Employment Insight report from Hudson provides some insights into growth areas for IT salaries. The study is based on a survey of 1025 employees and 823 employers across Australia.

Money is only one part of employment satisfaction, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that it’s irrelevant. When asked what factors would influence their choice of the next job, more pay was the top response (both for IT workers and for other employment categories Hudson covered). More than half (56.7 per cent) were looking for a new role.

That doesn’t mean a pay rise will be forthcoming. Hudson’s research suggests that 65.1 per cent of employees plan increases of between 2 to 3 per cent this year. However, IT workers have done better in this area in the past than other sectors, with 91.7 per cent offering an increase over the last 12 months.

“In the permanent market there have been very conservative hiring practices,” Hudson client services director Martin Retschko told Lifehacker. “People are working harder and there’s less replacement going on. Organisations are having to do more with less. The overriding trend is that people are feeling the pressure.”

One potential strategy for employers is to work on more flexible workplace practices, such as offering more personal days or flexible hours. However, that’s a relatively rare option, according to Retschko. “Offering the ability to work from home or taking personal days — those things are very valuable, but a lot of organisations are still very traditional.”

As ever, salaries vary depending on where you’re located. This is often a two-edged sword; getting paid more in Perth doesn’t help if rents are going through the roof. We’re looking here at a selection of permanent roles (Hudson also assessed contract figures, but we’ll revisit those on another occasion). Quoted ranges are base salaries in thousands of dollars.

Role Sydney Newcastle Melbourne Canberra Brisbane Adelaide Perth
Graduate Developer 45-50 45-55 45-55 40-55 40-55 45-55 45-55
Senior Analyst Programmer 90-120 75-90 90-110 80-120 80-105 70-95 80-100
iOS Developer 90-110 n/a 90-110 n/a n/a 60-80 85-110
SharePoint Developer 100-130 110-130 85-120 80-120 80-120 80-100 90-140
Network Administrator 60-95 65-85 60-90 60-85 60-85 75-95 65-90
Network Manager 90-140 85-120 90-14 90-130 90-130 90-120 100-130
BI Consultant 95-145 90-130 90-140 100-140 100-120 85-120 80-150
Systems Analyst 75-110 75-95 80-120 70-100 80-110 65-85 80-100
Enterprise Architect 140-200 120-150 130-180 130-175 120-200 110-140 120-200
Test Analyst 65-100 65-85 70-95 55-90 70-110 60-90 70-90
Helpdesk Level 1 45-55 40-45 40-50 40-50 40-50 40-55 40-50
Desktop Support 60-75 40-55 60-80 50-75 50-65 50-70 60-75
Systems Architect 120-150 120-150 100-150 100-150 100-150 100-120 100-150
Data Centre Manager 100-140 120-140 90-130 100-150 80-120 110-130 100-125
Security Administrator 80-110 85-110 70-95 65-95 75-90 80-100 60-90
IT Manager 100-170 90-150 100-170 100-150 90-150 90-150 90-150
CIO 180-370 180-250 170-350 150-250 180-300 150-300 170+

While technical skills are a pre-requisite for many of these jobs, you also need to work on other areas. “Soft skills around relationship management space are very important,” said Retschko.

Lifehacker’s weekly Salary column looks at how to maximise your career in technology.


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