* NW Salary Survey and high-tech MBA options
Overall compensation for senior-level IT titles increased more than the rate of inflation last year, according to Network World’s 2005 Salary Survey of 2,430 respondents.
As reported in a story by my colleague Joanne Cummings writing in Network World’s special “You” issue http://www.networkworld.com/you/2005/072505-salary-survey.html?rl, senior execs with titles such as senior vice president or vice president of MIS/IT/IS/DP enjoyed $131,170 in total compensation in 2004. That’s an increase of 3.9%, which compares nicely to the inflation rate that InflationData.com reported for 2004.
Respondents at the CIO-level reported a high-flying increase in total compensation of 7.8% to $143,880, while the workers toiling at staff level didn’t do too badly last year pocketing a total compensation increase of 5.2% to $71,480 in 2005. The total comp figure includes bonuses, stock options and other benefits that are added to base pay.
Check out the story (link above) for more findings from the Network World salary survey that was conducted by King, Brown & Partners. At the above article link, you’ll also find a link to an online salary calculator to see how your salary compares, plus a link to a grid from the report with salary information according to job titles.
Joanne’s article also notes that some respondents are looking to further themselves through education – not just more technical training but to broaden their business knowledge through MBAs. These executives know that they can learn as much as they can take about bits and bytes but when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder, you’ve got to be able to speak the lingo that your CXOs speak to get your technical point across.
“Certifications are important, but at the level that I’m at, certifications probably aren’t as important as an MBA. To make it to the CIO level or the director of IT level, an MBA’s a requirement of your job. They won’t even look at your application without it,” one IT exec is quoted as saying in the article.
So what are your options if you want to study for an MBA? You could apply for a traditional MBA program that may touch upon technology and where the other students are from different industries and play different roles in their organizations, or you could get yourself onto one of the new crop of MBA programs designed specifically for techies. As such programs are targeted at IT execs, you’ll have a better time networking with like-minded students than if you were studying with a marketing exec.
Next week, we’ll talk about a business school that has been offering a high-tech MBA program for a year. We’ll discsuss who its program is targeted at and what success it has had so far.
