The latest Peoplebank quarterly salary survey shows that demand for IT experts is rising steadily, especially in the areas of cloud and digital transformation — but that still doesn’t translate into salary rises for the vast majority of roles. Here’s what key roles pay.
Worker picture from Shutterstock
Peoplebank’s announcement notes that “organisations – especially in Victoria and South Australia – are beginning to convert contract roles into permanent positions, recognising the importance of owning their IP in technology”. The strongest growth in demand in the last quarter was in NSW, but in the vast majority areas, the median salaries are the same as last quarter.
In the table below, we’ve listed the median salaries for selected roles advertised during the last quarter from the report. These are base salaries without commission, superannuation or other benefits. As usual with these figures, since these are roles being recruited for, the figures are more likely to represent the higher end of the market.
The majority of these figures are exactly the same as last quarter. A dozen roles have seen minor changes, mostly in the ACT, but there’s no obvious pattern. In the ACT contract workers have now become responsible for their own payroll tax, which has seen a rise in contractor rates to help cover that, and which also appears to have caused some disruption in rates for permanent roles.
| Role | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | WA | SA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Analyst | $100,000 | $85,000 | $110,000 | $95,000 | $100,000 | $80,000 |
| CIO/IT Director | $250,000 | $170,000 | $240,000 | $152,000 | $180,000 | $150,000 |
| DBA – Oracle | $110,000 | $85,000 | $110,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| DBA – SQL Server | $120,000 | $80,000 | $110,000 | $91,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Desktop/PC Support | $65,000 | $45,000 | $65,000 | $67,000 | $60,000 | $70,000 |
| Developer – .NET | $100,000 | $85,000 | $80,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $75,000 |
| Developer – Android | $85,000 | $85,000 | $110,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Developer – iOS | $85,000 | $85,000 | $110,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Developer – Sharepoint | $100,000 | $90,000 | $110,000 | $110,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 |
| Deveveloper – Java | $90,000 | $85,000 | $85,000 | $90,000 | $85,000 | $85,000 |
| Enterprise Architect | $150,000 | $120,000 | $130,000 | $120,000 | $180,000 | $100,000 |
| Help Desk Manager | $100,000 | $100,000 | $80,000 | $90,000 | $75,000 | $95,000 |
| Helpdesk Support | $60,000 | $55,000 | $50,000 | $62,000 | $48,000 | $60,000 |
| Infrastructure Architect | $130,000 | $110,000 | $140,000 | $115,000 | $110,000 | $110,000 |
| IT Manager | $120,000 | $120,000 | $120,000 | $100,000 | $120,000 | $120,000 |
| Project Manager – Applications | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 | $120,000 | $110,000 |
| Project Manager – Infrastructure | $115,000 | $105,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 | $120,000 | $110,000 |
| Security Engineer | $110,000 | $90,000 | $110,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $100,000 |
| Solutions Architect | $130,000 | $115,000 | $140,000 | $110,000 | $150,000 | $100,000 |
| Technical Writer | $90,000 | $90,000 | $100,000 | $75,000 | $65,000 | $60,000 |
| Test Manager | $120,000 | $85,000 | $140,000 | $100,000 | $90,000 | $100,000 |
| Wintel Server Engineer | $95,000 | $95,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 | $90,000 |
Comments
13 responses to “IT Salaries In Australia: As Flat As A Pancake”
Helpdesk support 60k? Are you kidding me? You should alter that, try 43k max for level 1 helpdesk. Maybe it goes up by the time you get to level 3 or above, but entry level helpdesk support usually caps out around that unless your company is *very* generous.
*Edit* Out of curiosity, got in touch with 3 of my former employees:
1 Hospital in Brisbane: $42k
1 Private school in Brisbane: $40k
1 Private asset tracking company in Brisbane: $44k
As someone who’s been doing it for the past few years I can definitely agree with you there. its unusual to see even 50k+ without doing some level 3 work and even then your doing well…
Bare in mind I’m talking level 1 helpdesk here, I figured it was best to start with the lowest paying rather than give false hope.
I am entry level helpdesk support for a state Government department and I currently earn 50k, which will proceed to go up in the years to come. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones!
Yeah, State Govt does pay a bit more than other industries, you’re definitely lucky there and once you’re in, usually ‘you’re in’ unless you mess up bad. But, good on you! I haven’t worked in the industry in 3 years, so it might’ve gone up a little but my old workmates told me over fb that was their entry rates. Damn, 50k though for entry level…
Not impossible at all. For level 1 Helpdesk sure 60k is a joke.
My last 3 jobs.
Helpdesk support manufacturing company: 40k
Sysadmin\ Helpdesk manufacturing company: 65k (left due to shitty work conditions)
Helpdesk private school: 60k
Still working at the school and I was hired on a 3 month contract covering for a staff member on LSL. The place was a bit of a mess worked really hard to turn things around. IT director was very impressed and when I told them how much I wanted they were happy to pay it even though it was higher than they pay the other staff in the same role. They said I was “worth it” I’m definitely doing more than just helpdesk.
Only been in IT for 2 and a half years outside of study.
What on earth private school were you working at? One in Brisbane, entry level help desk paid merely 40k per year, that was simply level 1 with no extra duties. But if you’re doing more duties than just level 1 helpdesk that may justify the extra pay as well. I think this point may be escaping a few people here, specifically LEVEL ONE HELPDESK work befitting only the role of LEVEL ONE HELPDESK and that’s it. No sys-admin work (which is a fair bit higher) etc. It’s like saying ‘Oh I get paid 80k a year as a frycook at maccas…. oh never mind the fact I also manage two stores…’
I’m still working at the school. My role is officially “helpdesk” in that I help the kids/staff/parents with their general computer issues. When it’s quiet I’m helping the sysadmin with networking, servers, VMware, phone systems, backups configs/installs/maint etc and planning with the IT director about projects we are doing over the next year.
I guess my title doesn’t really match what I do. I was hired to cover helpdesk while someone was on long service leave. I would rather not say which school on a public forum haha.
I’m level 1/2 helpdesk at my company and make over 60K + super full time. The average is obviously lower but doesn’t mean the jobs don’t exist.
That’s kind of why I added the part about ‘unless your company is very generous’. There’s the occasional fast food place (such as Pizza Capers) who don’t pay the minimum wage either, but when advertising standard pay rates you don’t generally go by what they do.
Is the Java dev drunk??
“Deveveloper – Java…..”
On $85k you can be a drunk, OR have a home loan. Not both.
Maybe because the Java dev don’t “see” sharp.
Help desk support is around $43k and Service desk support is around $60k.
I guess I’m doing pretty well. I’m tier 3 support in Brisvegas earning $80k plus good benefits. However, I have worked in roles that demanded more from me with less pay.