ITWeb's 13th annual IT Salary Survey captured 2 294 valid responses - a sample that has a good representation of IT professionals across industries, company sizes, regions, job functions and technical expertise.
At the strategic level, the highest average salary is reported by COOs, at R906 000 per year. CIOs reported an average salary of R820 000 per year.
At the mid-management level, the top-paid jobs are data warehouse manager (R612 000), business development manager (R586 115) and IT manager (R555 009).
For those who do not manage any staff and yet earn a top salary, an "architect" position attracts the highest pay - enterprise architect/chief architect (R745 446), systems architect (R682 731) and software architect (R632 941) are the top earners among non-managerial jobs.
At the bottom of the scale, the lowest average salaries are reported by systems administrators, Web developers, Web designers, network administrators and software testers.
When it comes to platform expertise, enterprise-level skills top the charts - Sun, IBM, Oracle, SAP and SAS specialists reported the highest average salaries.
Top paid jobs | |
COO - chief operations officer | R906 000 |
Sales director | R870 900 |
IT director | R845 706 |
CIO - chief information officer | R820 111 |
CTO - chief technology officer | R786 545 |
Enterprise architect / chief architect | R745 446 |
Systems architect | R682 731 |
Software architect | R632 941 |
CTO - chief technology officer | R620 000 |
Data warehouse manager | R612 214 |
Database manager | R589 632 |
Business development manager | R586 115 |
Project manager | R565 512 |
IT manager | R555 009 |
Database developer | R541 300 |
Database administrator | R461 440 |
Systems analyst | R434 833 |
Network manager | R429 739 |
Software engineer | R413 333 |
Network engineer | R382 692 |
Developer / programmer | R370 877 |
Note: The figure reported is the average annual package, cost to company (ie pre tax).
Source: ITWeb's 13th annual IT Salary Survey
See the detailed 2013 Salary Survey report
Top paid platform expertise | |
Sun server hardware | R783 000 |
IBM OS/390 | R781 833 |
PeopleSoft (Oracle) | R704 500 |
Oracle Applications | R696 185 |
Oracle Development Tools | R673 500 |
SAP | R671 976 |
SAS | R660 857 |
Adabas | R625 600 |
Oracle Database | R624 659 |
Novell NetWare | R585 667 |
Note: The figure reported is the average annual package, cost to company (ie pre tax).
Source: ITWeb's 13th annual IT Salary Survey
See the detailed 2013 Salary Survey report
Top earners in Gauteng
Not surprisingly, the highest salaries are found in Gauteng, and among IT professionals working for telecommunications companies, followed by those in the parastatal, financial and government sectors. The lowest average salaries were reported by those working in the non-governmental (NGO), education and media sectors.
The biggest companies pay the highest salaries on average, while companies with 10 or fewer employees pay the lowest.
While more than a third of respondents did not receive bonuses, 45% did, and 22% received more than one.
Survey demographics
Participants included professionals, business managers and business owners from across SA, and from companies ranging in size from fewer than 10 people, to those with more than 5 000 employees.
Only 18% of respondents were female, compared to 82% male; 53% were white, 29% black, 10% Indian, 7% coloured and 1% Asian. These figures are similar to the previous year's, which had 80% male and 52% white respondents.
The bulk of respondents (53%) were between 26 and 35 years old, while respondents aged 41 and older made up 17% of the survey.
Most (83%) are permanently employed and live in Gauteng.
See the detailed 2013 Salary Survey report.
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