InformationWeek

But as Heather Gillbanks discovered, being a consultant means you also have to like life on the road--and she didn't. After a few years as a document-management system consultant, the 31-year-old wanted to spend more time at home with her young daughter. So last year, she cut her $170,000 annual pay in half to take a full-time job as director of IT at Kingsearch Solutions Inc., a Dallas technical recruiting firm where she takes home about $85,000 a year. She also got a $12,000 sign-on bonus.

Gillbanks has decided it's time to start looking for another job, mainly because she's accomplished what she set out to do for Kingsearch. "They had a very unstable [systems] environment," she says. "Now the challenge is diminished." Gillbanks is confident that she'll find another job at a satisfactory pay level where she can develop her leadership skills further. However, as she job-hunts this time around, she's noticed that salaries haven't moved up much since last year, even for consultants. She also sees fewer stock options being offered, though she notices nonmonetary perks, such as access to tennis courts and working from home, being played up. Along with a flatter pay scale, Gillbanks expects that it will take her longer to find a new job. "There are more people looking for jobs, so the response [from prospective employers] is slower," she says.

Pay and perks aren't uniform across industries or geography; company size is a factor as well. The survey indicates that IT staff and managers who work at small companies--those with revenue less than $50 million annually--earn about $20,000 less than their counterparts who work at companies with revenue greater than $10 billion.

The industry you're in is also a big factor. Consumer-goods companies compensated their IT managers second-most generously last year, while education paid IT managers the least. Total compensation for IT staff in education was $56,000, and IT managers earned $72,000.

That's no surprise to Blaine Garner, a technology specialist for the Eastern York School District in York, Pa. He likes his job but says he could double his $40,000 annual salary if he were to move to the private sector, even in this economy. As one of the district's three IT professionals, Garner is responsible for the schools' network, which supports about 700 computers used by 3,500 students and 250 administrators and faculty.

Garner, 30, has worked at the school district for three years and stays because he enjoys the environment and he learns a lot through troubleshooting. He's also challenged by being responsible for the entire network, and he likes that the district also gets all the Novell updates early, so he can work with new technology. The school district will pay for college credits, but Garner doesn't have much free time. Unlike teachers, who get summers off, he works year-round, sometimes 60 hours a week, with no extra pay or bonuses.

The school district, which operates on a strict budget and policies, has slowly recognized that its compensation packages for IT people aren't competitive, and it's trying to create new benefits and pay packages so it won't lose tech talent like Garner. The new package would boost salaries, pay overtime, and increase vacation time, he says.

During the height of the IT skills shortage, a lot of extravagant compensation packages went to those folks who job-hopped. However, some of those who have changed jobs regularly, or worked as independent consultants, are beginning to rethink their strategies.

"I took this job because a salaried history looks much better on a resumé" than consulting, says Paul Bennett, a senior systems architect at Risk Laboratories LLC, a Marietta, Ga., risk-management consulting firm. Bennett, 25, accepted his current job at a lower rate than he was making as an independent consultant. By proving himself with good performance, Bennett says, he can get raises of 10% to 20%. Also, the job offer came with stock options--something that's not available to independent consultants. "I'm inclined to stick around as long as the company is stable," he says.

With all the jitters surrounding salaries and stability, fewer people are willing to move to startups compared with a year ago. There are still solid opportunities for big bucks for those willing to take the risk, says Resource Systems Group's Daversa. Because investors have become so selective about funding, "those companies that are still getting venture-capital funding are the real deal," he says. In turn, "the time for startups to build their talent base has never been better, because there's more talent out there to select from," he says.

But risk-taking will be the exception this year. For most IT professionals, a steady paycheck, job stability, and raises--even if they're slimmer than last year--look pretty darn good.

--With additional reporting by Mary Hayes