A recent Information Week magazine article describes their survey of IT salaries.  As in the last few years, data integration, ERP, data warehouse, and data mining wages rank at the top of IT pay scales. 

Where The Money Is
Data mining and data warehouse, human resources IT, Web infrastructure, ERP, and enterprise application integration job functions bag the largest pay packages for IT managers. The lowest-paying spots are for networking, training, and IT support, jobs where median pay is 60% of the top-tier categories. Job titles matter, too. IT staffers with titles of architects and sales support engineers crack $100,000 in median pay. There's much buzz about the importance of project management, but that title, with median pay of $93,000, falls short of the tech elite. Seven staff job categories pay median total compensation of more than $80,000 a year; last year, only four categories topped that figure.

Unfortunately, this increase has widened the gender gap in IT salaries:

The persistent salary gap between women and men, especially in management, got larger this year. Male IT staffers command a median base salary of $70,000, compared with $64,000 for women IT staffers, a 9% difference. Among IT managers, men are earning an average of 15% more than women in base salary this year, compared with 10% more in 2005. Throw in bonuses, and the gap gets larger: Male staffers make $8,000 (12%) more, and male managers $14,000 (16%) more.

It seems to me that we in the information management field rank fairly high on the salary scale graphic.  Enterprise Application Integration ranks first, with data mining coming in third, and database design and analysis coming in eighth, just under application development.

Congratulations to Amy, Ray, Michael, and Deb, winners of our contest this week.

I will be contacting our winners via e-mail to deliver the prizes.

Thanks, all, for your comments.   I am honoured by what you have said and would love to post about any other data management professionals who have been recognized by their peers for accomplishments in Data Management.

At the DAMA International AGM, we celebrated DAMA's 20th Anniversary - two decades of advancing data management.  ...and there was cake.  A great deal of chocolately, rich, cake.

As many of you know, organizations like DAMA are run by volunteers - data management professionals who give their time and resources to support an organization for YOU.  I've known many board members, both locally and internationally and they all volunteer because they are passionate about data management.  Why don't you take a couple of minutes to send a thank you e-mail to your DAMA board members.

Happy Birthday, DAMA. 

A new crossword is available on our Fun Page under Articles & Videos.  This is a diamond crossword that should be easier than our last one -- there are more data-related terms and it is smaller.

I don't want to mislead you -  I've learned a great deal of good information from Graeme's Tutorial - more than just how to make a great paper airplane.

Some key points:

1. Managers don't want to hear prophets of doom.
2. Managers don't want to hear about infrastructure because infrastructure implies ongoing capitol costs.
3. Failing to ask for help is a deadly sin for consultants
4. Managers want loyal teams
5. Managers want professional advice (expressed in an unbiased manner).

There were many other great things I'm taking away from the his presentation.  But you'll have to attend your local DAMA chapter meeting to hear the details.