What's the secret of IT success? Bill Goodwin sifts
through a massive careers survey from the NCC and Computer
Weekly to find out What does it take to become a high flyer in information
technology? The answers may surprise you. Where you work, how often
you change jobs, and what you did before you entered IT could
actually have a much greater influence on your pay than your
technical abilities.
The National Computing Centre (NCC), together with Gateway and
Computer Weekly, analysed the careers of almost 3,000 IT
professionals, chosen at random from Computer Weekly readers, to
see just what it takes to become an IT high flyer. Among other
factors, we have looked at their educational qualifications, their
technical experience, the industry they are working in, their
gender and the type of work they are doing.
Male or female?
Unfortunately the research confirms what many people in the IT
industry know already: the highest earners tend to be male. Whether
this reflects pay discrimination or is the result of the IT
industry's failure to attract women employees is an open
question.
However, the results show that while 27% of high flyers are
male, only 18% are female. In contrast, 42% of low flyers are women
and compared to only 25% male.
Education
Having a university degree increases your chances of earning a
higher salary, but only slightly.
A lot also depends on the choice of the degree. Engineering, it
turns out, is a far better choice than a computer science degree if
a high salary is important. A second degree, in any subject, is
also a significant factor in edging you into a higher earning
bracket.
First career
If you chose not to go into IT straight away, then your choice
of first career can have an enormous influence on your later IT
earnings. Many of the high earners in the survey have joined IT
from an academic, scientific or accounting background. Similarly,
start out in teaching or clerical work, and the statistics suggest
you are more likely to be a low flyer.
Choice of industry
If you want to maximise your salary as an IT professional, you
will need to think very carefully about which industry you want to
join.
The NCC's research shows there are more high flyers in the
finance, business services, and IT services than in any other
industry sector.
Similarly, there are more low flyers in local government, health
and education. The distribution industry lies somewhere in the
middle, attracting equal numbers of high and low flyers.
Type of IT work
The sort of IT work you chose to do is also crucial. If you want
to earn really big bucks, consider working in the sales and
marketing department of an IT supplier. But remember that the work
is usually commission based, so that your take-home pay will depend
very heavily on just how many sales you make.
If that's not your cup of tea, try and land a job that focuses
on information systems strategy, resource management or project
management. Areas to avoid include IT training, user support and
computer ergonomics.
Experience
No matter where you start, you can expect your salary to grow as
you gain experience. But the salary gulf between high flyers and
low flyers becomes wider with each year.
After 20 years' experience, the high flyers can expect to be
earning about £20,000 more than the low flyers, even though both
start off on similar salaries.
The findings show that having a broader technical experience can
only slightly increase your chances of earning a higher salary.
Having experience of different industrial sectors also appears to
have little impact on your chances of earning a higher salary.
Changing jobs
Changing jobs frequently does seem to help to boost your salary,
but the differences are subtle.
Among people who move jobs regularly, 30% are high flyers
compared to only 20% of the long stayers. On the other hand, the
survey suggests that 22% of the fast movers are also low
flyers.
Money isn't everything
We measured high flyers by the salaries they earn. We have
classed the high flyers as those whose earnings are above the upper
quartile of the sample, and the low flyers as those earning less
than the lower quartile. But at the end of the day, salary is
rarely the most important factor in any job. For many people, job
satisfaction, colleagues, and location are a higher priority.
The raw figures themselves cannot answer the question of why all
the factors looked at in the survey are important in earning a
higher salary.
So, although there are more high flyers in finance, for
instance, the survey sheds no light on whether finance companies
are simply hiring better people at the outset, or whether finance
genuinely offers better opportunities for the average IT
worker.
What makes a high flyer?
We asked what the highest earning professionals - the high
flyers - have in common, as well as what factors seem to be
associated with the lowest earning professionals. The results have
been adjusted to take into account regional variations in salary,
so our findings are applicable whether you have a fantastically
well paid Java job in the City of London, or are earning half the
amount doing the same work in Aberystwyth. We have also taken into
account how much experience each person has, in order to see which
factors can truly make the difference to your salary.
The results show that a carefully chosen career path can be just
as important as your programming or management skills if you want
to make the big time. Make the wrong choices and you are more
likely to find yourself stuck on the bottom rung of the salary
ladder.
Be warned, while some differences between a high flyer and a low
flyer are stark, others are extremely subtle. But if you are
setting out to reach the top of the IT profession, acting on the
NCC/Computer Weekly findings could definitely help you to shift the
odds in your favour.
Steps to a high salary
If you are not a man already, you should seriously consider
becoming one Take a first degree in engineering Take a second degree in information technology Spend a couple of years working in scientific
research Join the IT department of a financial services
company Steps to a low salary
Leave school after taking A levels but don't go to
university Join the teaching profession Change careers and take up an IT job in local
government Make sure you work in user support or IT training Stay in your job for as long as possible before moving
on Gateway notebook winners
Everyone who took part in the National Computing Centre/Computer
Weekly/Gateway Career Tracking Survey was entered into a prize draw
to win one of two fabulous Gateway Solo 9300 XL notebook
computers.
Powered by Intel's new 700MHz Mobile Pentium III processor, the
Solo 9300 XL boasts the industry's largest screen, plus XL Dolby
Digital/AC-3 output, 8x DVD Rom drive, an ATI 2x AGP 3D graphics
accelerator with 8Mbytes of SGRam, IEEE 1394 (Firewire) for digital
editing, and composite video output ports.
The two lucky winners are Martin Quinn of NatWest Bank and Mike
Hindson-Evans of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.