Despite the current state of the economy and coming budget cuts in the IT department (see today's story "Gartner: Get ready for IT budget cuts"), some analysts are predicting that IT salaries will still get a boost in 2008. In major metropolitan areas like New York, San Francisco and Chicago, starting salaries for IT professionals will increase by 5.3 percent on average, according to a report by Bluewolf, an IT consulting and resources firm. Application developers, application architects, and project managers stand to benefit the most this year--they'll see larger salary increases than the rest of their peers in IT. "Architects and project managers are skills that are not easy to outsource overseas," says Michael Kirven, Bluewolf co-founder and principal. According to Bluewolf, application developers will see their average salaries increase by 7.6 percent to range from $80,250 to $112,500; application architects can expect a 7.5 percent increase, with average salaries ranging from $87,500 to $120,000; and project managers can expect a 7.4 percent boost to $85,000 to $150,000. "Fears about a recession or a pending recession are overblown," Kirven says. "Outside of the mortgage-specific sectors, the reality is not as bad as the fear."
For more on IT salaries in 2008:
- see this InformationWeek story
