IT salary review 2009

Byron Riesse, Australian Information Industry Association chairman, SA branch

The prediction was made a year ago by the Australian Information Industry Association that SA’s information and communication technology industry would experience a shortfall of thousands of jobs.

And, despite the economic crisis that has hit business hard, that demand for workers is still there.

“In some areas that shortfall remains,” says AIIA SA chairman Byron Riessen.

“Despite the global financial crises, there are some parts of the IT sector that are in intense demand – if anything, some areas are increasing in demand.”

Mr Riessen said the financial crisis was an impetus for many businesses to re-examine their method of doing things.

“Harsh times cause businesses to do things differently – and IT provides a mechanism (for that).”

Some of the largest demand continued to come from public and public-private employers, Mr Riessen says.

“Defence is still continuing to suck in ICT skills, and the government has commissioned a lot of infrastructure programs that have created opportunities for ICT.”

Pay examples
Team leader $65,000-$75,000
Systems administrator $65,000-$100,000
Network security $70,000-$100,000
Data/voice engineer $75,000-$110,000
Telco engineer $75,000-$100,000
Programmer $40,000-$60,000
Test analyst $65,000-$80,000
QA Manager $80,000-$100,000
Database developer $55,000-$70,000

Source: Australian Information Industry Association and Hays 2009 Salary Survey.

“Do I see the IT industry growing significantly in the future? Yes, absolutely. There’s no doubt about that.

Looking ahead
The challenge facing ICT at the moment was to broaden the sector and use ICT to tackle problems in other industries in novel, more cost-effective ways

Did you know?
Women in the IT sector only comprise one in five workers.

The industry includes many freelancers and telecommuters, due to the nature of the work.

Every South Australian university and TAFE campus offers information and communication technology courses.

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