Which industries are the most lucrative for tech pros? According to the latest Dice Salary Survey, banking and finance is in first place—perhaps no surprise, given the segment’s reputation as a high-salary, big-perks environment.
Here are some of the others:
1. Banks/Financial/Insurance
2015 salary: $106,913
Year-over-year change: 7.9 percent
Banks and financial-services firms have an intense need for tech professionals who specialize in data analytics, database management, and software development. Security-related skills are also in high demand.
2. Aerospace & Defense
2015 salary: $106,050
Year-over-year change: 6.6 percent
In states such as Colorado and Virginia, the defense industry has a robust presence—and it’s hungry for tech talent. Cyber-security experts are particularly valued in this arena.
3. Entertainment/Media
2015 salary: $105,418
Year-over-year change: 15.9 percent
With the advent of streaming and other cloud-based services for movies, music, and books, it’s no wonder that the entertainment industry needs (and is willing to pay for) tech pros.
4. Utilities/Energy
2015 salary: $103,736
Year-over-year change: 6.8 percent
Cyber-security and Big Data pros will play a big role in coming years as utility companies move to update (and harden) their respective grids.
5. Professional Services
2015 salary: $103,685
Year-over-year change: 5.3 percent
Consultants and others who fall in the ‘professional services’ category help companies with a variety of tasks, including the upgrading of IT infrastructure. Thanks to companies’ continual need for outside help, salaries in this category have risen over the past few years.
6. Computer Software
2015 salary: $101,097
Year-over-year change: 5.6 percent
Software is eating the world, as investor Marc Andreessen once said. With the Internet of Things and other burgeoning segments expanding software platforms to everything from fridges to cars, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which apps and cloud-based services don’t become even more ubiquitous in coming years.
7. Medical/Pharmaceutical/Biotech
2015 salary: $103,736
Year-over-year change: 9.8 percent
Evolutions in biotech are based on the ability to store and analyze massive amounts of information, making Big Data experts progressively more important to the field.
8. Telecommunications
2015 salary: $99,420
Year-over-year change: 11.2 percent
Just wait until 5G becomes the mobile telecommunications standard: it’ll kick off a paradigm shift in how people not only build apps and services, but also consume data.
9. Computer Hardware
2015 salary: $99,346
Year-over-year change: 7.6 percent
Software needs hardware on which to run; the tech industry needs hardware experts who can build lighter, faster, cheaper systems. Although the U.S. manufacturing industry has seen a steady corrosion in the number of jobs over the past few years, the need for hardware experts remains strong.
10. Consumer Products
2015 salary: $98,920
Year-over-year change: 14.2 percent
As consumer products become increasingly connected to the Web (thanks to the still-nascent Internet of Things movement), there’ll be a rising need for cloud and connectivity experts who can make those goods “smart.”
