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As networking grows in importance, so do the salaries of its professionals.
By Joanne Cummings
In 1985,
George Bush was vice president, the Cold War was raging, and the typical
manager of data network services made a base salary of $54,800.
Today, George W. Bush is president, the Cold War is over, and that
same manager's salary has more than doubled to $114,700, according
to annual surveys conducted by Edward Perlin Associates, a New York
IT management consultancy.
When stock and other incentives (nonexistent in 1985) are added, the
total compensation package comes to $153,500, on average.
Managers of data networks have seen their salaries grow much faster
than telecom network managers' have during the past 15 years. In 1985,
the telecom folk had a base salary of $52,200, quite comparable to
the data network manager's $54,800. By 1995, data net managers were
earning $94,800 in base salary, while the telecom people were only
up to $79,700.
Today, that gap is even larger - $114,700 for the data network manager
to $86,600 in base salary for the telecom manager. And when cash bonuses
and stock options are factored in, the data network folk are earning
$153,500 vs. $106,300 for the telecom people.
At the high end, top IT executives, who in 1985 were not yet called
CIOs, made an average base salary of $137,900, which bumped up to
$221,600 when cash bonuses were included. By 1995, the average CIO
was making double that - $435,600 in salary and bonuses.
And when stock options became part of the compensation package, CIO
compensation went into the stratosphere. In 2000, the average CIO
made nearly $900,000 when stock options were added to a base salary
of $306,500 and more than $200,000 in bonuses. Of course, those stock
figures may look quite different at the end of 2001.
Cummings is a freelance writer living in North Andover, Mass. She can be reached at joanne_m_cummings@ hotmail.com. Send this article to a colleague
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