2005 IR Salary Survey

Question

2005 IR Salary Survey

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

SSC Guru

Points: 736173
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May 18, 2005 at 11:15 am

#167038

Comments posted to this topic are about the content posted at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones/2005irsalarysurvey.asp
10 per cent on taxable income up to £2,090
22 per cent on taxable income between £2,091 and £32,400
40 per cent on taxable income over £32,401

That includes National insurance contributions.

By my reckoning that would leave you with a take-home of about 35801GBP from a salary of 49182GBP!!

Jamie Thomson
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson

Anthony Ivins SSC Enthusiast Points: 122 More actions · Answer 1

Simular trends in Australia. Good article and very good advice. Work in a smaller company, enjoy your job and your co-workers, and remember that life is short.

Jamie Thomson SSChampion Points: 11805 More actions · Answer 2

Interesting to note Steve's opinion that a senior SQL DBA should be on 90000USD.

XE.com tells me that, at today's prices, that is 49182GBP. Based on what I know about the UK job market I would say that that is the minimum a Senor SQL DBA worth their salt should expect. Perhaps I'm wrong.

I should state the caveat that I live and work in London and salaries here are generally higher than the rest of the country (an issue that you don't want to get me started on) so perhaps my opinion is "tainted" by this.

Interesting article anyway, thanks Steve.

Jamie Thomson
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson

nileshsane Default port Points: 1465 More actions · Answer 3

Nice article. Thanks for sharing that information. I particularly liked the conclusion.

What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand

Andy Leonard SSChampion Points: 10144 More actions · Answer 4

Great article Steve.

I agree with nileshsane - the conclusion rocks!

I would add it's possible to work for a large corporation and still enjoy the benefits of a close-knit, entrepreneurial-like team. It all depends upon management.

Andy

Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics

Tatsu SSCertifiable Points: 7824 More actions · Answer 5

Something important to note about government-published unemployment rates is that those numbers do not include people that have given up. Not to dredge up the work visa thing but there are many areas that have been hit pretty hard with cheap visa labor and these job markets are just not hiring. Were the unemployment rates that IW published from their own study?

[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog

sushila SSC-Dedicated Points: 35293 More actions · Answer 6

Great article (as usual) Steve - a few things that caught my attention were:

1)"...those with certifications made 7-19% more on average.." - hmmm! It'd be good to get some real numbers on that kind of survey and verify the truth behind it...may help dawdlers like me sitting on the fence about certification !!!

2) "Range by metro area were about what I expected with a surprise. SF, DC, NY at the top, but Denver was above LA. Atlanta and Phoenix and Florida were absent, a few areas that I expected to see. Minneapolis was included at the bottom, which seemed like the best bargain. If you like cold weather."...

Steve - what do you mean when you say that Minneapolis seems like the best bargain when it was "included at the bottom"...is it because living expenses are cheaper there ????

3) "rookies tended to make about the same as veterans on average. Now that doesn't seem right unless they are counting rookies as people new to the company. Lots of job changes in the last year have some highly paid, highly experienced "rookies" at new companies."...I do know of rookie rookies who make almost as much as the experienced rookies...yes, it's not right but it happens a lot!!!

**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**

sushila SSC-Dedicated Points: 35293 More actions · Answer 7

Oh yes - and that last bit about "Work in a smaller company, enjoy your job and your co-workers, and remember that life is short." - think that touched a chord in all of us...

**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**

Steve Reich SSC Veteran Points: 263 More actions · Answer 8

Jamie,

Out of curiousity, can you tell me what portion of the 49182GBP would be left after income taxes (or do you not have any taxes withheld in the UK?).

-Steve

Jamie Thomson SSChampion Points: 11805 More actions · Answer 9

Steve,

Err....I'm more one of these people that accepts their pay packet rather than analyses it but...

According to 1 reputable source:

chenthor Right there with Babe Points: 779 More actions · Answer 10

nice summery, but is there a link to the actual results? I would like to see the numbers for myself, as I work in a medium size company in the middle of nowhere. they do not seem to understand the national averages of DBA salaries, only their local economy. I need ammo like this to show them how underpaid our whole IT staff is.

Please provide a link to the survay if one exists.

thanks!

Tatsu SSCertifiable Points: 7824 More actions · Answer 11

Don't expect that to work unless you are prepared to move; even then, you'll probably have to. The common argument is cost-of-living. I am in the same boat but I like where I live too much to give it up right now.

[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog

sushila SSC-Dedicated Points: 35293 More actions · Answer 12

Bryant - the cost-of-living argument is a pretty valid and hefty one...I live in the D.C metro area and the real estate market alone has skyrocketed to criminally unaffordable prices.....

Ultimately it's going to be a tradeoff between location and job satisfaction...very few of us get to have our cake and eat it too...

**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736173 More actions · Answer 13

Glad you liked the conclusion I try to live my life that way and finding an enjoyable situation is worth some $$. I happily took a $10k cut to not drive downtown (20miles) as a commute. I was lucky enough to be able to get by, but that enjoyment factor is one to consider.

Minnesota is definitely cheaper than Denver and lots of other places, so a high salary there makes a great choice. If you can stand the cold. I had a friend from SF that got an offer for 90k during the dot com boom, when he was making 88k in SF. The job was in Madison, WI, however, so the cost of living was about half. That was mostly housing, but he could buy a house in Madison, very little traffic, good basketball, something they don't have in SF.

I don't think the rookies do as well in the DBA area, but in sysadmin, managing, lots of areas, those new to the job can make as much as those that have been there.

Jamie, 49GBP sounds low, even with the exchange and especially the taxes. Taxes in the US would probably be around 40-45% for someone making $90 after FICA, Federal, State.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736173 More actions · Answer 14

Sorry, not sure where the results are. I received a copy of the survey in email since I participated. Here are some more details, but I didn't see the same survey I had linked.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=161501030