Tech Skills Driving Salary Increases in the Past Year

Professionals and managers engaged in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are witnessing significant increases in their compensation, alongside greater job satisfaction. This trend is highlighted in Dice's latest tech salary report, which surveyed 2,835 tech professionals in the fall of 2024.

More Opportunities

The report reflects changes within tech workplaces, notably the growing opportunities and cultural evolution. Female tech workers, in particular, indicate improvement over the past two decades, with those in the industry for over 20 years being 1.5 times more likely than men to say tech culture has improved (64% vs. 46%).

Salary and Rate Increases

The average technology professional now earns an annual salary of $112,521, a 1.2% increase from the previous year. IT executives and managers lead with nearly $170,000, while developers earn approximately $130,000 annually.

Here are average annual earnings by job title:

• IT Management (CEO, CIO, CTO, VP, Director): $168,345
• Software Developer: $128,386
• Project Manager: $121,237
• Other IT Roles: $114,423
• Business Analyst/Intelligence Analyst: $102,500
• QA Engineer/Tester: $96,917
• Systems Administrator: $93,783
• Data Analyst: $83,990
• IT Support: $67,746
• Helpdesk Technician/Computer Support Specialist: $57,234

Salary increases are notably prominent in AI and cloud-related skills, with natural language processing witnessing a 21% rise, followed by Amazon and AWS skills.

Skills with largest salary increases over the past year include:

• Natural Language Processing: $131,621 (+21%)
• AWS CodeWhisperer: $117,821 (+16%)
• Amazon Redshift: $134,103 (+15%)
• BigQuery: $120,434 (+15%)
• COBOL: $130,243 (+15%)
• Ruby: $136,920 (+13%)
• AI: $130,277 (+12%)
• Blockchain: $113,143 (+12%)
• Oracle eBusiness: $121,227 (+12%)
• Application Delivery: $123,336 (+11%)

AI skills are receiving nearly an 18% premium over other tech roles. The report authors note that AI's emergence as a key business capability is driving compensation disparities within the tech sector.

Higher Job Satisfaction

Tech professionals contributing to AI projects report "notably higher job satisfaction," even after adjusting for salary levels. This suggests that involvement in AI work offers non-monetary benefits, according to the Dice analysis.

High wages in tech aren't exclusive to AI specialists. As noted by the Dice authors, many in the tech industry can benefit from AI by mastering aspects like prompt engineering.

The Goldilocks Zone

The report also identifies a "Goldilocks Zone" for job changes—neither too frequently nor too seldom. Tech professionals who changed jobs six to nine times in their careers reached higher earning potentials, averaging $142,000. Conversely, those with more than ten job changes experienced decreases in average compensation, highlighting that excessive job hopping may impact salary growth negatively. Strategic job transitions remain crucial for salary advancement.

Despite mixed workplace culture perceptions, improvements in gender equity and remote work flexibility are evident in the tech industry, yet there's acknowledgment of ongoing progress to be made.