CIO and IT salaries: Do you know what you should be paid in 2010?

CIO and IT salaries and IT job security and optimism took a major hit in the past couple of years, according to the results of SearchCIO.com's annual IT salary and careers survey.

The survey, which was conducted via email among readers of SearchCIO.com and SearchCIO-Midmarket.com in the fourth quarter of 2009, garnered 952 responses across 21 industries and all regions of the U.S. It defined a senior IT executive as one whose title is vice president, executive vice president, senior vice president, CIO, CTO or chief information security officer (CISO). Midlevel IT executives were defined as those having a director-level position, and IT managers, as those with at least one direct report.

Do you know how many CIOs expect pay cuts in 2010, in which industries IT executives are the most optimistic (and pessimistic), and how CIOs balance strategic versus tactical concerns? Read the stories linked below, and take this quiz to see whether you're keeping up with your peers.

1. What percentage of IT executives expected either a pay cut or a furlough going into 2010?
2. Of those IT executives expecting raises, in which industry were the ones who foresaw the highest-percentage raise in 2010?
3. True or false: In the industries that pay IT executives the best, compensation for these positions most often depends on one's tenure with the company.
4. According to Ken McGee, a research fellow at Stamford, Conn.-based consultancy Gartner Inc., why might many IT organizations be reporting a positive 2010 outlook?
5. What percentage of financial-industry IT executives are optimistic going into 2010?
6. In the first six months of 2009, how much of the work of Sharon Gietl, CIO at St. Louis-based mining company The Doe Run Co., was tactical in nature?
7. To what does Gartner Inc. analyst Mark McDonald attribute IT leaders’ longer job tenures?
8. Job confidence among CIOs and IT executives dropped between the 2008 and 2009 IT salary and careers surveys. When asked in 2009 how secure they felt in their jobs, what percentage said they were extremely satisfied or satisfied in their jobs?

This was first published in February 2010

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