Tech Managers Make $115,000, Staff $87,000. Why Are IT Pros So Worried?

The Analytics Opportunity

Companies are trying to make better sense of their mountains of data, and that's why they're spending on business intelligence and analytics software--and people. Median pay for data integration/ data warehousing specialists is $107,000 for staffers and $131,000 for managers, among the elite categories in our survey.

Business intelligence/analytics also ranks in the top five of managerial functions, with median pay of $130,000. The BI/analytics specialty is a cut below for staffers, at $90,000 median comp, likely reflecting the mix of jobs that can fall into this category, from strategic data analysis work to more routine report building.

Back in 2001, we didn't even break out BI/analytics into its own category, and the closest one we had--"data mining/data warehouse"--was in the middle of the pack for management compensation, ranked ninth.

Today, asked which business or technical skills are critical to their jobs, 54% of staffers cite "analyzing data"--more than any other option. Compare that with the 39% who cited "preparing reports," suggesting that these pros are using data and not just handing it off to others.

Among managers, 56% cite analyzing data as critical, topped only by aligning business and tech goals, and collaborating with internal stakeholders. (Sadly, 48% of managers also say "preparing reports" is critical to their jobs.)

But although IT pros think data analysis is critical and pays well, when asked what training they value, a tiny 5% of staffers and 6% of managers cite statistics/analytics among the top two choices. Most aren't piling into the soft-skill stuff, either--just 7% of staffers cite communication training as valuable to their careers. Staffers are interested in tech-specific training (73%) and certifications (42%). Managers aren't much different.