1. 2009 Salaries:
IMAGE FROM SHUTTERSTOCK
Good
News,
with Strings Attached
Redmond’s annual survey of Microsoft IT compensation
shows that, despite a global recession, respondents
reported higher average salaries—but lost some ground
with raises and bonuses. By Michael Domingo, Executive Editor of New Media

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knock some sense into the business.
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3. W
e’re in the midst of a Centra Health in Lynchburg, Va. He Chart 3a. Bonuses
massive recession expected a more modest increase, “consid- Respondents were asked if they received a
that’s approaching the ering our economy and the poor state that bonus this year thus far. The majority of
them were denied; Chart 3b offers some
two-year mark. In many companies are in.” good guesses as to why.
2008, when we report- Tony F., a technical architect in Austin,
No bonus 52.4%
ed that salaries in the Texas, who got a peek at the numbers, Up to $1,000 7.6%
Microsoft IT community went up, the believes the results are due to companies $1,000 - $4,999 19.8%
recession had respondents wondering if “attempting to retain more ‘useful’ employ- $5,000 - $9,999 9.8%
IT salaries had fi nally hit a high mark. A ees,” to build strength against the recession. $10,000 - $14,999 4.6%
year later, the recession has gone global, James Robbins, Jr., a member of the $15,000 - $19,999 2%
but amazingly it hasn’t had the impact on Computer IT’s Adjunct Faculty at Com- $20,000 or more 3.8%
base compensation that we expected. munity College of Beaver County in
The overall base salary this year? Pittsburgh, suspects salaries jumped
$83,113. While 36.5 percent of survey because more companies off-shored low-
participants said they saw no change in er-skilled talent over those five years, so
salary from last year, nearly half claimed specialized workers remaining within the Chart 3b. How Are Bonuses
their salary was higher in 2009 (see United States are getting paid more. Calculated?
Chart 1, this page). Both guesses are good ones, but we hon- Based on company profitability 22.6%
estly can’t tell if this year’s results Based on personal performance 18.3%
bear them out. What we do know Based on certification 0.8%
Chart 1. 2009 Overview Combined profitability/performance 30.8%
The demographic of the average Redmond reader. Respondents is this: Despite the recession and
Profitability/performance/certification 4.4%
who said their salaries were higher than in 2008: 49.4 percent; reports of decreased spending and
those who saw no change: 36.5 percent. Other reason not cited here 23.0%
job losses, those who remain
Average, Base Salary $83,113 employed and working with
Median Salary $78,156 Microsoft technologies fared bet-
Raise/Increase $1,569 ter than average IT workers. 22.6%
Bonus $3,046 We can’t make a direct compari-
Age 45.2 years 23.0%
son to the results of our past sur-
Years in IT 11.6 years 18.3%
veys, but we can place our survey
Male vs. Female 7:1
Education: 64.7% have at least a 4-year degree in context with others to give you
Overall Satisfaction 3.12 an idea of why this year’s base sal-
(1=worst, 5=best) ary is good news. 30.8%
Take the U.S. Department of
Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics
4.4% 0.8%
It’s good news so far, but it certainly (BLS) figures released in July. According
caught us with our guard down. The same to BLS data compiled in mid-2007, the
was the case for Brent Magenbauer, a sur- median salary for computer systems spe-
vey respondent and server team leader at cialists and systems administrators was
Chart 2a. How Your $68,130. Redmond readers, whose median
Salary Changed salary is $78,156, fared better by 14 per-
Chart 2. Average Raise We asked respondents how their salary cent. (Although the data was just released,
Respondents reported a mean raise of changed; 781 people responded to this
$1,569. Compared to years past, it's portion of the survey. As the adage goes, it’s compiled from numbers that were gath-
considerably less. Disheartening are the “You never know, unless you ask.” In this ered in mid-2007.)
results for those who reported a pay cut, case, that method worked for better than That Redmond readers saw salaries go
which accounted for 9 percent. Recessions one in five respondents. Even so, about 30
bite in more ways than one. percent of respondents to this question had higher in 2009 also jives with a 2009 Com-
no change or had a negative impact on salary. puter Economics Inc. projection. The
Up to $999 6.4%
Asked for a raise; Computer Economics reports show IT
$1,000-$1,999 10.8%
$2,000-$2,999 12.2% justified by performance 22% salaries rising by 2 percent. Information-
$3,000-$3,999 7.4% Was promoted 9% Week’s 2009 results are similar, at 1.67 per-
$4,000-$4,999 5.3% Hiked salary as incentive cent higher. Its survey shows median
to remain with company 17%
$5,000-$9,999 8.2% salaries at $80,000.
Cost of living increase 21%
$10,000-$14,999 2.8% Laid off; got new job 2% A Janco Associates Inc. survey doesn’t
$15,000-$19,999 0.9% No change 17 show as much optimism as our results do.
$20,000-$24,999 0.4% Pay cut as part of Janco reports salaries for middle managers
$25,000 or more 0.7% budget reductions 5% at large enterprises rising 0.43 percent to
No increase 35.5% Demoted 1% $79,575 from 2008 to 2009, but for midsize
Decrease 9% Laid off; no job yet 3% enterprises, the numbers go down 0.24
Other negative impacts 3%
percent to $72,272.
3 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com

4. Chart 3c. Salary Expectations Chart 4. Base Salary, Job Title Peter’s experience is par
for 2010 Managers usually sit atop the salary pyramid, but programming for the course, if Chart 3b
Respondents were asked to predict where project leads fared better in 2009. (p. 3) is any indication:
salaries will be headed next year. The Programming Project Lead (Non-Supervisory) $100,635 22.6 percent of companies
majority remain optimistic, but just barely.
Most of them expect between $1,000 to
Management (Supervisory) $98,907 award bonuses based on
$5,000. That optimism is evened out by the Networking Project Lead (Non-Supervisory) $82,563 profitability. There’s a
nearly half who expect no increase or Database Administrator/Developer $80,894 majority if you add to that
predict a decrease. Many of those who Programmer/Analyst $78,818
responded believed the recession will another 30.8 percent
Trainer $77,989
continue to have impact.
Network Engineer $76,877
who measure bonuses
It will increase 51% Webmaster/Developer/Producer $74,951 based on a combination
...decrease 5% Systems Administrator $70,491 of profitability and per-
...stay the same 43% Help Desk/User Support $49,887 sonal performance.
Role Play
How did job roles affect
Chart 3d. Raise Expectations their companies frequently offer raises salaries? Chart 4 (this page) shows base
for 2010 based on sales or merit. Even with the salaries by job title. Managers in years past
Up to $999 7% recession, Gerhard Ziegler, a LAN admin- have typically held the top-salaried title.
$1,001 to $2,999 23% istrator in Parkville, Md., expects his raise This year, managers are outflanked by
$3,000 to $4,999 13% will land between 3 percent and 4 percent, programming project leads with no
$5,000 to $6,999 3% while Tony F. is optimistic that he’ll see a supervisory responsibilities, who make up
$7,000 to $8,999 4% raise that closely resembles a cost-of-living 6.8 percent of the respondents. These
$9,000 to $10,999 1% adjustment of around 5 percent. leads’ salaries exceed the six-figure mark,
$11,000 or more <1% We also asked respondents to offer insights at $100,635 on average. Managers are the
None 43% into next year’s raises (see Chart 3d, this largest responding segment at 34.1 percent.
page). Of those who expect a raise, 23 They claim the second spot at $98,907.
Where Does It Hurt? percent believe they’ll see an extra $1,000 to One in four respondents said they’re a
This year’s compensation is a mix of good $3,000. Another 13 percent expect to get systems administrator. Sysadmins
news and bad. While many respondents within the $3,000 to $4,999 range. Maybe average $70,491.
report getting raises or bonuses, fewer it’s a sign of hard times ahead when the Chart 5 (this page) shows how tenure
overall received these boosts and many number of respondents who expect a raise can affect salaries. With a few anomalies,
didn’t get as much as they did last year. A shrinks by 25 percent. most salaries show a progression of high-
look at raises shows respondents reporting The bonus picture was brighter; $3,046 er salaries the longer one stays in IT.
they expect an average of only $1,569 in on average for those who received one. Experienced respondents with manager
additional compensation this year. Com- But Chart 3a (p. 3) shows a grim statistic: and programming project-lead titles
panies may be looking to retain good 52.4 percent reported no bonus at all. made well over six figures this year. In
employees, but they’re clearly taking a “The recession is defi nitely a factor,” says other words, it pays to remain in IT.
tough look at incentives as they face the Peter Z., an applications engineer with a
bigger prospect of staying fi nancially value-added reseller in Illinois. “Bonuses Technology’s
afloat in these harsh times. never materialized because the company Cutting Edge
Derek Martin, a systems engineer in didn’t meet its stated sales goals.” Historically, those with hotter, more cur-
Eugene, Ore., told rent technology expertise
Redmond that “raises have a decided advantage
were cut out this year” at
Chart 5. Years of Experience, Job Title (see Chart 7, p. 6). Those
Experience often commands higher salaries. Exceptions here are the anomalies
his company. Count among managers, systems administrators, trainers and Web-based workers. who work with Oracle
Derek among the 35.5 1-2 3-5 6-9 10+ RDBMS made serious
percent of respondents Overall $59,111 $70,178 $69,539 $88,365 coin this year, at
who said they had no Database Administrator/Developer $39,748 $57,442 $72,200 $88,342 $100,522. Specialists who
raise at all (see Chart 2, Help Desk/User Support $38,320 $46,623 $51,044 $54,750 work for outsourcing
p. 3). Including those Management (Supervisory) $112,177 $90,542 $86,007 $100,794 firms and extranets
who said they had their Network Engineer $55,404 $86,000 $67,726 $81,466 round out the top three,
pay cut, we’re looking at Networking Project Lead (Non-Supervisory) * * * $85,476 at $97,350 and $96,879,
a bleak reality of 44.5 Programmer/Analyst $52,000 $62,371 $67,001 $83,397 respectively. It’s no sur-
percent of respondents Programming Project Lead (Non-Supervisory) * $66,000 $91,000 $103,084 prise that those who
making the same or less Systems Administrator $59,675 $61,139 $59,991 $74,226 work with portable and
money. Trainer $55,280 $98,932 $79,750 $81,449 embedded computing
Many of the respon- Webmaster/Developer/Producer * $64,625 $42,750 $84,917 devices are making
dents we contacted said *insufficient data $95,228, as companies
4 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com

5. Chart 6. Job Satisfaction
By ranking, “Absolutely satisfied” is a 5, while “Dissatisfied” is a 1. The results show percentage of respondents for each answer (for example, 41.5 of
those who responded were “Fairly satisified” with their base salaries). The Average indicates overall rank among respondents to that portion of the
survey; that is, base salary satisifaction averaged 2.99, or almost “Fairly satisified.”
Base Raises/ Other benefits Paid Flexible work Paid
Salary Bonuses etc. (cars, assoc. fees, etc.) Time Off Schedule Training
Absolutely satisfied 5.2 5.5 4.5 12.5 17.8 6.3
Very satisfied 24.4 21.0 16.1 38.7 38.6 20.8
Fairly satisfied 41.4 32.8 34.3 35.5 29.5 31.2
Somewhat dissatisfied 21.1 28.2 29.7 8.6 10.7 30.4
Dissatisfied 7.9 12.5 15.4 4.7 3.4 11.2
Average 2.99 2.79 2.65 3.46 3.57 2.81
Access to New Job Corporate Work Overall
Technology Security Culture Responsibilities Compensation
Absolutely satisfied 10.5 13.0 9.0 8.8 5.4
Very satisfied 33.5 34.9 25.1 39.7 25.8
Fairly satisfied 35.5 34.7 35.5 37.5 40.9
Somewhat dissatisfied 16.1 12.0 21.0 10.8 19.8
Dissatisfied 4.4 5.4 9.3 3.1 8.2
Average 3.29 3.38 3.04 3.40 3.00
What’s Hot in Microsoft Technology Methodology
We asked respondents to tell us what technologies their compa- In this year’s survey, we
nies were planning to implement. More than one in four plan to randomly e-mailed a link to
implement Windows 7 by the end of 2010—though only 9.4 per- an online survey to 40,000
cent plan to implement it by end of this year—with 17.2 percent Redmond print and PDF
upgrading to Windows Server 2008. More than 12 percent said subscribers and Redmond
they’d do so by the end of 2009, and nearly 35 percent already Report newsletter read-
are on the OS. ers. We trimmed those who
Another hot technology is Exchange 2010, with just 2.6 per- lived outside the United
cent of respondents considering installing before year’s end, but States, as well as those who
16.2 percent expecting to have it in place by the end of 2010. don’t receive the print or
What’s interesting in the data is that Windows Vista was a PDF issue, from the 1,627
big loser, with 41.8 percent of respondents saying they’d never responses. Then we excised
install it, even though 21.8 percent already have. Just as interest- respondents who said they
ing are those who’d never install Macs or Linux: 56.1 percent and were unemployed as of the
48.8 percent, respectively. survey. That left us with
1,368 valid responses.
Note: Some of the IT pro-
scramble for experts who can make work- Content Management Server experts and fessionals we interviewed
ers more productive via their iPhones and $103,858 for Application Center complete wish to remain anonymous
BlackBerry devices. yet another, impressive top-three list. for fear of suffering back-
Help desk technicians came in at the bot- If you predicted that experts who claim lash from employers or col-
tom rung of the salary ladder. Making Windows operating system skills reported leagues. We refer to those
$76,885 isn’t bad for a position that might lower salaries, you’d be nothing short of a respondents by first name
be considered entry-level, but take this mind reader. At the bottom rungs of the and last initial.
number with a grain of salt. Those who salary ladder are IT professionals whose
answered this part of the survey claimed primary work is managing the
more than one skill, meaning some of the Microsoft OS: $55,455 for NT techs, financial doldrums. There are hints of that
higher-end managers who oversee help $55,911 for Windows client support and taking place with forecasts of strong Win-
desk technicians were counted here as well. $66,844 for Windows Vista technicians. dows 7 and Windows Server 2008 upgrade
We also asked respondents what Micro- plans later this year and the growing use of
soft technologies they specialized in. What This Year’s SharePoint and Microsoft’s messaging plat-
Microsoft has been playing up its unified Survey Means forms. To make all of this stuff work, there
communications strategy this year, and it If we have to boil down the numbers to will always be a need for well-informed,
looks like companies are willing to pay for derive any meaning, it comes down to this: well-trained, experienced Microsoft IT
experts with Live Communications skills Companies will be looking to Microsoft professionals, and companies will pay a pre-
to the tune of $111,750. $109,202 for technology to bring them out of these mium to hire and retain them.
5 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com

6. Chart 7. Salary by Technology Expertise Chart 8. Salary By Microsoft Product Expertise
If you work with data, your salary is probably nearing six Microsoft IT specialists are often able to influence salaries. Those
figures. The Oracle experts among the Redmond readership
claim to be making a king's ransom, with data warehousing whose day-to-day work extends beyond the Windows networking
experts right behind them. OS realm have a distinct advantage in making salary demands.
Accounting software $89,035 Application Center $103,858
Backup and storage management $80,964 App-V $67,500
Customer relationship management $88,941 BizTalk Server $102,180
Data warehousing $98,741 Content Management Server $109,202
Database administration $87,004 Exchange $88,013
Database development $87,027 Forefront *
E-commerce $94,708 Windows Home Server *
Extranets $96,879 Host Integration Server *
Hardware design $86,654 Identity Integration Server *
Help desk support $76,885 Internet Information Server $80,116
Intranets $84,640 Internet Security/Acceleration Server *
LAN/WAN internetworking $79,285 Visual Studio $89,550
Linux $84,135 Live Communications Server $111,750
Messaging/e-mail $81,536 Microsoft Operations Manager $92,021
Novell $83,130 Office/Visio/FrontPage $89,674
Oracle $100,522 Project Server $95,833
Outsourcing $97,350 SharePoint Server $94,513
Portable/embedded computing $95,228 Small Business Server $67,356
Research/development $94,842 SQL Server $90,045
Routers and switches $79,816 Storage Server $82,021
Security $85,039 Systems Management Server $75,667
Software design $95,501 Systems Center $81,300
Strategic planning $96,340 Terminal Services $73,666
Systems integration $89,208 Windows 2000 $77,818
Systems management $83,537 Windows Client Support $55,911
Telephony $83,591 Windows NT Server $55,455
Training $83,107 Windows Server 2003 (a) $72,861
Unix $88,831 Windows XP $76,411
VPN/remote management $81,633 Windows Vista $66,844
Virtualization $83,996 Windows Server 2008 $85,869
Web services $89,655 Windows Essential Server $86,426
Web site development/management $88,768 Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V $84,856
Windows testing/planning/pilot $82,077 *Insufficient Data
Wireless/mobile computing $84,374
*Insufficient Data
Educational Level
Education does have some impact on salaries. Typically
the higher the degree, the higher the salary. Those with
Chart 9. Education
Of the 1,039 who responded, 62 percent have a
doctoral degrees made the most, at $106,761 (3 percent baccalaureate degree or better.
of respondents claim to have such a degree). Those By percentage By salary
with four-year degrees or higher made better than the Some high school 0.2 *
overall base salary: a $7,000 improvement for those with Graduated high school 3.9 71,810
ongoing post-graduate study and another $7,000 for Attended some college 20.8 75,818
those who have achieved master’s degrees. Those who Graduated 2-yr college 13 68,308
made better than the overall base salary comprised 62 Graduated 4-yr college 30.7 83,243
percent of respondents, which means our readers, on Post-grad study/no degree 10.8 90,555
the whole, are well-educated and well-compensated. It Master's degree 17.6 97,110
Doctoral degree 3 106,761
behooves those who ask, “Which earns more: a degree
*Insufficient Data
or a certification?” to keep at their school studies.
6 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com

7. Chart 10. Additional Compensation Offerings
Fewer companies are putting into 401(k) programs than in years past, with
additional compensation incentives mainly covering the essentials. Think medical and
On Hiring:
dental benefits first. Figures don't add up to 100 percent, as respondents were able
to choose all that apply. “As more computers
Paid medical/dental 60% are produced and
Paid life insurance
401(k) without company contribution
52%
55%
more new devices
Paid training 49% are introduced in the
College education reimbursement 42%
Bonuses 40% market, more high-
Paid certification exams
Paid technical conference attendance 29%
32%
tech jobs will be
Practice equipment (computers, switches, etc.) 21% created. Hiring next
Software for personal use 16%
High-speed home Internet connection 12% year will most likely
Stock purchase program 12%
Profit-sharing 12%
go up.”
Expense account 10.7% James Robbins, Jr.,
Stock option program 8% Adjunct Faculty, Computer IT,
Car allowance 5% Community College of Beaver
Other (please specify) 5% County, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sabbatical (one month or longer) 3%
Chart 11. Salaries by State Chart 12. Salaries by Major Metro Areas
Where you live can affect salary expectations. By state, Californians top Break down salaries by metro areas and you get a slightly different
all, with Maryland and New Hampshire IT residents in the second and picture. California seems to be an exception in this case, as salaries for
third positions. West Virginians make $35K less than the average those in three of its major metro areas were among the highest:
Redmond reader, followed by those in New Mexico and North Dakota. Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles were at the top of the list.
For other high salaries, you have to go to the other coast, particular in
Alaska $70,885.00 Montana *
the Washington, DC area and in Charlotte, North Carolina, another
Alabama $75,056.00 North Carolina $92,942.00
high-tech hotbed
Arkansas $67,653.00 North Dakota $55,225.00
Arizona $88,949.00 Nebraska $73,391.00 Albuquerque $69,166.00 Milwaukee $83,661.00
California $99,874.00 New Hampshire $98,714.00 Atlanta $79,741.00 Minneapolis $85,708.00
Colorado $82,532.00 New Jersey $96,584.00 Austin $75,706.00 Nashville $60,667.00
Connecticut $94,540.00 New Mexico $53,375.00 Baltimore $86,477.00 New York $99,436.00
Delaware $72,400.00 Nevada $73,766.00 Birmingham $83,200.00 Oklahoma City $72,149.00
Florida $80,477.00 New York $86,689.00 Boston $95,016.00 Omaha $82,747.00
Georgia $75,246.00 Ohio $73,454.00 Charlotte $106,857.00 Orlando $86,100.00
Hawaii $69,671.00 Oklahoma $67,259.00 Chicago $92,011.00 Philadelphia $85,190.00
Iowa $84,563.00 Oregon $95,766.00 Cincinnati $82,345.00 Phoenix $83,500.00
Idaho $79,800.00 Pennsylvania $74,092.00 Cleveland $84,055.00 Pittsburgh $81,142.00
Illinois $82,422.00 Rhode Island $80,849.00 Columbus $79,874.00 Portland, OR $78,688.00
Indiana $79,721.00 South Carolina $65,245.00 Dallas/Ft. Worth $89,774.00 Sacramento $124,575.00
Kansas $85,191.00 South Dakota $50,764.00 Denver $77,967.00 Salt Lake City $95,100.00
Kentucky $71,097.00 Tennessee $69,616.00 Des Moines $89,458.00 San Antonio $78,600.00
Louisiana $64,350.00 Texas $81,899.00 Detroit $71,085.00 San Diego $97,224.00
Massachusetts $90,731.00 Utah $94,352.00 Houston $83,111.00 San Francisco $113,416.00
Maryland $99,623.00 Virginia $91,637.00 Indianapolis $80,010.00 San Jose $100,353.00
Maine $79,500.00 Vermont $73,000.00 Kansas City $91,723.00 Seattle $89,444.00
Michigan $68,121.00 Washington $82,572.00 Las Vegas $78,737.00 St. Louis $75,166.00
Minnesota $83,223.00 Wisconsin $71,835.00 Los Angeles $104,686.00 Tucson $76,333.00
Missouri $76,902.00 West Virginia $48,400.00 Memphis * Washington, DC $110,807.00
Mississippi $63,666.00 Wyoming * Miami $90,830.00 * Insufficient data to report results.
* Insufficient data to report results.
7 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com

8. Chart 13a. Hiring Plans, Chart 13b. How Many Will Chart 15a. Have You Been Laid
Next 12 Months Be Hired? Off in the Last 12 months?
Unemployment continues to be a struggle, We hear anecdotal evidence of colleagues
so those who have a job are the lucky 1 to 5 51% and friends of coworkers being laid off or
ones. Fewer than 30 percent of respondents 6 to 10 10% fired or RIF'ed, but from a survey perspective,
expect to be wo rking with new hires. Of 11 to 20 4% Redmond readers have been lucky so far, with
those, about half expect less than a handful 21-30 2% only 4 percent of you having been axed (and
of employees to join the IT ranks. who, despite the circumstances, answered
30 8% our survey). Nearly one in three who said
Yes 29% Don't know 25% they lost a job in the last 12 months were
No 47% able to get rehired or find work elsewhere.
Unsure 24%
Yes 4%
No 96%
Yes Yes
29% 25% 51% 4%
Unsure
24%
8%
No No
4% 10% 96%
47% 2%
On the Salary Increase: Chart 15b. ...Rehired/Found
“Certain areas the IT market a New Position?
Rehired 5%
still seems pretty hot, as I still Found Job 27%
get a lot of recruiter hits for Unemployed 68%
contract work.” 5%
Derek Martin, Lead Systems Engineer, Roseburg 27%
Forest Products Co.
Chart 14a. What's the Impact of 68%
Outsourcing on your Job?
Outsourcing appears to have very low impact
this year and next year. We've asked this
question for the last 5 years and the results Chart 14b. Will Outsourcing
have been fairly steady in this regard. Impact You Next Year?
2008 2009 2008 2009
No Impact 91.7% 91.9% No Impact 90.7% 90.2%
Lost job to outsourcing 5.7% 5.9% Will lose job to outsourcing 6.8% 7.2%
Found job with outsourcer 2.6% 2.1% Will find job with outsourcer 2.5% 2.6%
2.1% 2.6%
5.9% 7.2%
Chart 16. Will You Be In IT
91.9% 90.2% in 5 Years?
Overwhelmingly, IT professionals choose to
be working in this profession.
Yes 89%
2008 percentage shown as white lines only. 2008 percentage shown as white lines only. No 11%
8 | Salary Survey 2009 | Redmondmag.com