Median salaries for networking and data center professionals decreased in 2016, putting pressure on infrastructure roles. Staff salaries declined 4.7% to $80,000 while manager salaries fell 2% to $96,000. However, total compensation including bonuses remained flat or increased slightly. Commoditization of hardware and the focus on software skills are driving demand and pay higher for roles involving security, cloud, and development. Despite salary challenges, infrastructure professionals remain optimistic, with 9 in 10 feeling secure in their career. Acquiring new skills is seen as important for staying relevant in a changing industry.

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July 2016
2016 IT Infrastructure
Salary Survey
reports
Commoditization of IT hardware is putting
pressure on networking and data center
pros, threatening salaries and prompting
new skills training. Still, 71% of managers
and 61% of staff report high levels of job
satisfaction, and 90% feel their jobs are
secure. But should infrastructure pros worry
about remaining relevant?

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Susan Fogarty
InformationWeekReports
Susan Fogarty is a content professional with two decades of experience writing and
editing for IT pros, especially those deeply involved in enterprise infrastructure. As
director of content for the Interop conference and editor at Network Computing and
InformationWeek, she combines written, multimedia, and live content to deliver a wide
variety of educational resources to those working in IT. Previously, Sue spent 11 years at
TechTarget, six as the Editorial Director of its Networking Media Group, pioneering tech
publishing via the burgeoning internet. She also served as Editor in Chief of Dell’s
publication covering emerging technologies for midsized customers.
Sue is a self-confessed ice cream addict, clean freak, and dog lover, and lives with her
family in a quiet lakeside community in New Hampshire.
2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
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SUMMARY
Demand for technology professionals is at record levels, but that opportunity is bypassing
many who work in the field of infrastructure. The trend toward technologies like cloud, soft-
ware-defined and converged infrastructure is commoditizing roles for those who work with
hardware and trickling down into their pay.
In fact, according to the InformationWeek US IT Salary Survey, median salaries for networking
and data center professionals are actually decreasing. Staff-level employees reported median
annual base salaries at $80,000, for a significant 4.7% decrease compared to our last survey in
2014. Infrastructure managers fared better, reporting median annual base salaries of $96,000,
for a 2% decline in the past two years.
Respondents recognized the effects of a changing industry and emphasized a growing need
for education. When asked what specific skills they planned to learn in 2016, 52% of staff-level
respondents and 48% of managers chose security as their number one priority. Staff-level em-
ployees also cited network engineering and operations (36%), cloud integration (28%), wire-
less (20%), and data storage (19%). Those at the management level chose leadership skills
(37%), project management (31%), cloud integration (30%), and business skills (21%).
Despite the challenges facing today’s infrastructure professionals, they remained optimistic.
Nine out of 10 respondents said they feel a career in IT is as secure or more secure than most
other careers, and 71% of managers and 61% of staff reported they are satisfied or very satis-
fied by all aspects of their job.
In this report, we examine the transitions taking place in IT infrastructure and how they affect
those working in networking and data center environments. We’ll explore how infrastructure
pros are currently spending their time, how that meshes with technology trends reshaping IT,
and how acquiring new skills can help them stay relevant.
EXECUTIVE
2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
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SYNOPSIS
RESEARCH
ABOUT US
InformationWeek Reports’
analysts arm business
technology decision-makers
with real-world perspective
based on qualitative and
quantitative research, business
and technology assessment
and planning tools, and
adoption best practices
gleaned from experience.
Survey Name 2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
Survey Date April 2016
Region North America
Number of Respondents 450 networking and data center management professionals,
comprised of 248 staff-level and 202 management-level job functions
Purpose To track IT salary and compensation trends among IT infrastructure professionals,
and to measure various aspects of compensation, benefits and job satisfaction.
Methodology The survey was designed by Network Computing and fielded online. Email
invitations with an embedded link to the survey were sent to qualified IT professionals from
UBM databases in late 2015 and early 2016. Unemployed and part-time workers were exclud-
ed from these results, as were respondents from outside the United States. Median calcula-
tions, rather than mean or average figures, are used for salary, salary changes, and other areas
to eliminate distortions caused by extremes at the high and low ends of responses.
2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Surveyreports
July 2016 4

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Thetechjobmarketisaficklebeast.Headlines
scream of unending opportunity, encouraging
anyone with a laptop to learn to code. Software
startups are offering juicy perks like sign-on
bonuses, gourmet lunches, and gym member-
ships to attract developers and sometimes en-
tire development teams.
At the same time, commoditization is rearing
its head in on the operations side of the house.
The new professional ideal is the“full-stack en-
gineer,” one who is adept at everything from
racking and stacking to automation scripting.
The value placed on software skills and the
trend toward technologies like cloud, soft-
ware-defined, and converged infrastructure
has been pushing focus away from hardware,
and infrastructure pros can now feel the ef-
fects where it hurts — in their paychecks.
This year’s InformationWeek US IT Salary
Survey found that median salaries for net-
working and data center professionals actu-
ally decreased this year, after seeing small
gains in our 2014 survey. We polled 450 in-
frastructure-oriented IT pros with an average
of 20 years of experience working in IT across
varying company sizes and industries. Our
largest vertical segments were healthcare at
9%, followed by financial services, consult-
ing, education, and government — all at 8%.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents work in
organizations with operating budgets between
$1millionand$50million,but9%havebudgets
over $10 billion. A large percentage of respon-
dents hold degrees at the bachelor’s level or
higher, totaling 62% for staff and 70% for man-
agement. Sadly, an overwhelming 91% of our
survey takers were male and only 9% female.
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Shift from Software to Hardware Puts Pressure on Paychecks
2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
Median Base Salary
Salary Trend
Median annual base salary
Note: Median salaries in thousands of dollars
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers in 2016
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
20142016 2012
Staff Management
$80
$96 $98 $97
$84
$78
Change in
Base Salary
2014-2016
-4.7%
Staff
-2.0%
Management
Figure 1
reports
71%of managers are satisfied or
very satisfied by all aspects of
their jobs.
FAST FACT
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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
Salary Slump
When it comes to compensation, staff-level
employees reported median annual base sala-
ries at $80,000, for a significant 4.7% decrease,
compared to our results in 2014. Infrastruc-
ture managers fared better, reporting median
annual base salaries of $96,000, for a 2% de-
cline in the past two years. (See Figure 1.)That
comes on the heels of several years with small
increments of growth for staff positions and
flat salaries for managers as the US economy
began recovering in 2010 from the Great Re-
cession.
The picture is not completely dreary, how-
ever. Our survey found that when you add bo-
nuses and perks to the mix, overall compensa-
tionatleastremainedlevelwithourlastreport.
Total compensation for staff members in 2016
was exactly flat at $88,000, and total comp for
managers increased 1.9% to $106,000. (See
Figure 2.) The greatest number of bonuses
were based on personal performance (53%),
corporate performance (35%), and company
profit sharing (22%).
Many companies are looking at more cre-
ative ways to keep employees happy, noted
survey respondent Jonathan Harris, network
engineer at Northwest Pipe Company. “There
seems to be greater focus on leveraging ben-
efits to keep employees and draw talent to
organizations. Two examples I have seen re-
cently are expanded maternity leave and in-
creased medical coverage,” he said. “There is
even a company in North Carolina that is giv-
ing a Tesla Model 3 to employees.”
What else is causing salary stagnation? On
a macro level, fewer new jobs are being cre-
ated in infrastructure roles than in other ar-
eas of IT. According to the Bureau of Labor
reports
Compensation Trend
Median total cash compensation; includes any bonuses and other direct cash
payments received in the past 12 months
Note: Median salaries in thousands of dollars
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers in 2016
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
20142016 2012
Staff Management
$88$88
$106 $104 $104
$80
Figure 2
July 2016 6

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Previous Next Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook,
2016-17 Edition, average growth for the
number of job titles it tracks for the period
between 2014 and 2024 will be 7%. The BLS
expects network and system administration
positions to increase by 8%, just a tad higher
than average. In contrast, software develop-
ment jobs are projected to grow by 17%, in-
formation security by 18%, and data research
analysts by a whopping 30%.
It comes down to simple supply and de-
mand. “Job roles requiring experience with
specific tools and architectures that are in low
supply but [in] high demand are seeing sal-
ary increases,” said a senior project manager
at a major technology firm. “Cloud, mobile,
DevOps, and security are generating the new
job opportunities in IT.” An IT manager who
took the survey agreed, saying that his orga-
nization is rewarding security specialists and
developers with higher salaries and bonuses,
while roles like server administrators get small
increases if any.
Responsibilities Shift
The Bureau of Labor Statistics report also
notes that while demand for network and
reports
Impact of New Technologies on Data Center
Management Workload
How have the following new technologies affected your workload?
Base: 200 data center management professionals
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Cloud computing
Virtualization
Data center consolidation
Converged infrastructure
Software defined networking
Software defined storage
Utility or unified computing
Green computing
22%
44%
34%
43%
24%
33%
31%
39%
29%
23%
49%
64%
28%
17%
19%
57%
77%
65%
20%
28%
12%
16%
11%
16%
Less work No impactMore work
Figure 3
July 2016 7

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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
sys admins will grow as businesses invest in
“newer, faster technology and mobile net-
works,”an increase in cloud computing could
raise productivity — especially in the case of
networking professionals. The resulting land-
scape would require fewer of them to do the
same amount of work.
Our survey results illustrate that dynamic in
some respect, although it’s clear that the is-
sues are complex, with many interdependen-
cies. When asked how newer technologies and
trends are affecting their workloads, infrastruc-
ture pros agreed that they have less work as a
result of virtualization (chosen by 43%), consol-
idation (31%), converged infrastructure (23%),
and cloud computing (22%). (See Figure 3.)
Yet even larger percentages said they have
more work because of cloud computing and
converged infrastructure, the choice of 34%
and 28% of respondents, respectively. Many
other technologies that we think of as saving
work, such as software-defined networking,
are creating as much work as they save, if not
more, according to our respondents. That may
reflect the complexity of integrating these new
initiatives with existing infrastructure, or be-
cause new skills must be acquired to manage
software-oriented and hybrid environments.
Traditional Tasks Losing Value
Despite all the advancements taking place
in data center and networking technology,
our survey showed that more traditional tasks
are eating up a large part of infrastructure
professionals’ time on a daily basis. Although
there is a lot of talk in the industry about
“moving up the stack,” three quarters of our
reports
Time Spent on Tasks: Networking
Over the course of a typical workweek, how much of your time is spent on the following tasks?
Base: 247 networking professionals
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Network troubleshooting
Network monitoring
Network security
Network design
Configuring devices
Performance tuning
Deploying new services
Some of my time Very little of my time No timeMost of my time
44%23% 26% 7%
41%22% 26% 11%
44%19% 26% 11%
35%14% 36% 15%
50%11% 29% 10%
36%9% 38% 17%
43%8% 38% 11%
Figure 4
July 2016 8

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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
respondents identified “managing network
and systems infrastructure” as the skill most
critical to their jobs.
Ensuring the corporate network is up and
running is an ongoing challenge that shows
no signs of abating, even as programmatic net-
works and automation creep into the picture.
The networking professionals in our survey
in both management and staff positions are
mired in maintenance tasks rather than higher
level duties. In a typical workweek, they re-
ported spending the largest part of their time
on network troubleshooting (the answer of
23%), followed by network monitoring (22%),
and network security (19%). Network design
was cited by 14%, and deploying new network
services came in at only 8%. (See Figure 4.)
Those working in the data center gave more
varying responses, perhaps due to the matu-
rity of virtualization and an increased ability to
manage workloads in that environment. Data
center professionals reported spending the
most time on systems management (chosen
by 31%), troubleshooting (21%), and systems
monitoring (20%).While data center managers
also said they were devoting the most time
to systems management, at 28%, they spend
reports
Time Spent on Tasks: Data Center Management
Over the course of a typical workweek, how much of your time is spent on the following tasks?
Base: 200 data center management professionals
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Systems management
Troubleshooting
System monitoring
Planning new services
Storage management
Personnel management
Virtualization management
OS/application patching
Performance tuning
Documentation/change control
Installing software
Installing OS's
Installing hardware
Some of my time Very little of my time No timeMost of my time
31%
21%
20%
16%
15%
15%
13%
7% 42% 31% 20%
7% 45% 31% 17%
5% 51% 38% 6%
5% 40% 37% 18%
4% 29% 40% 27%
2% 33% 40% 24%
37% 33% 17%
37%
34%
31% 17%
21% 30%
43% 31% 10%
47% 25% 8%
58% 16% 5%
48% 16% 5%
15
13
7%
7%
5%
5%
4%
3%
Figure 5

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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
significant time on tasks at a more strategic lev-
el, including personnel management (26%) and
planning new services (25%). (See Figure 5.)
Even accounting for those small variations, IT
pros responding to our survey are experienc-
ing salary decreases across the board. Harris
explained the dynamic he is witnessing:“Tech-
nology growth in areas like security, cloud, and
converged infrastructures make the network
admins and support techs of the past a com-
modity,” he said. “There is an abundance of ‘IT
professionals’out there, but companies are dis-
cerning their skills and paying them according-
ly. The key players are the people correlating
with the business and designing the solutions
— the architects and analysts. I feel like that’s
where the greater salaries are going.”
Nancy Jones, a system administrator at Vec-
trus, agreed on the declining value of traditional
IT roles.“The value of the seasoned veteran data
center administrator seems to be decreasing,”
she said. She also noted that the aging IT pop-
ulation is causing “job creep” in which experi-
enced employees are replaced with entry-level
new hires or not replaced at all, their duties sim-
ply absorbed by the rest of the team.
In our survey, both staff and management
reports
Training Valued
What type of training would you find most valuable in developing your career?
Note: Up to two responses allowed
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Technology-specific training
Certification courses
Business skills training (e.g., finance, marketing)
People-management skills training
Project-management training
College courses (tech, business)
MBA
Statistics or analytics training/courses
Communication skills training
Other
ManagementStaff
23%23%
77%77%
7%7%
5%5%
12%12%
61%61%
63%63%
34%34%
23%23%
18%18%
13%13%
6%6%
9%9%
2%2%
8%8%
5%5%
7%7%
6%6%
5%5%
0%0%
1%1%
15
13
7%
7%
5%
5%
4%
3%
Figure 6

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Previous Next titles reported an average of 20 years of IT ex-
perience. And many have quite a history with
their companies. The amount of time at their
current employer was a median of nine years
for staff and 11 years for managers. A large
majority have worked for only one or two dif-
ferent companies in the past 10 years — 74%
for staff and 83% for management.
Training Is Essential
While longevity may not equate to compla-
cency,it’salwaysbeenarequirementforITpros
to keep technical skills current. That need may
be accelerated now as the industry undergoes
dramatic change. Don West, infrastructure lab
manager at Systems Made Simple, pointed to
cloud computing as the driver for that need.“If
‘old school’ infrastructure folks do not update
their skills to the cloud skills that many com-
panies are looking for, they are going to find
themselves antiquated,”he predicted.
When asked what specific skills they planned
to learn in 2016, survey respondents chose se-
curityastheirnumberonepriority,at50%.Staff-
level employees also cited network engineering
and operations (36%), cloud integration (28%),
wireless (20%), and data storage (19%). Those
reports
New Skills to Learn
Which of the following skills do you plan to learn about in 2016?
Note: Multiple responses allowed
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
IT security
Leadership skills
Project management
Cloud integration
Business skills
Network engineering/operations
Data storage
Wireless
Programming skills
Software-defined networking
Unified communications
Enterprise architecture
Data analytics
Mobile app development
Software-defined storage
System engineering/operations
IT service assurance
Application development
Voice engineering
DevOps
Other
52%
18%
15%
28%
12%
36%
19%
20%
14%
16%
14%
19%
8%
4%
13%
14%
6%
6%
6%
9%
2%
Staff Management
48%
37%
31%
30%
21%
19%
16%
15%
11%
11%
11%
10%
10%
8%
8%
8%
7%
6%
6%
5%
2%
Figure 7

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77%of staff chose technology-
specific training as most
desirable.
FAST FACT
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at the management level chose leadership
skills (37%), project management (31%), cloud
integration (30%), and business skills (21%). In
follow-up interviews, respondents also speci-
fied they’d like more training in Amazon Web
Services, Microsoft Azure, and agile project
management. (See Figure 7.)
When it comes to the type of training re-
spondents would like, the more technical the
better. Seventy-seven percent of staff and
63% of managers chose technology-specific
training as most desirable, followed by certi-
fication courses at 61% for staff and 34% for
managers. (See Figure 6.) Harris also pointed
out the value of independent, technology-
based training. “Vendor-specific training and
certifications hold less value than training that
gives me working knowledge of the underly-
ing technologies and how they interact,” he
said.“I wear many different hats. If I spend too
much time and money learning how to work
on one specific vendor’s system, something
else will get neglected.”
Seven in 10 respondents reported attend-
ing company-paid training or certification
courses in the preceding 12 months. However,
approximately 30% paid for training them-
selves, and 30% received no additional skills
training at all. Fortunately, free training options
exist for those will small budgets. West ex-
plained that the growing demand for program-
ming skills has led him to seek free education in
that area. “It is for that reason I have been tak-
ing Massive Open Online Courses from Cours-
era and EDx, as well as leveraging vendor train-
ing webinars or hands-on labs,”he said.
Jones observed a reduction in employ-
er-funded training as well. “It’s hard to get
companies to foot the bill for training and
reports
Overall Satisfaction
Overall, how satisfied are you with all aspects of your job, including compensation, benefits,
and other aspects of your employment relationship?
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
ManagementStaff
23%23%
16%16%
19%19%
52%52%
21%21%
7%7%
1%1%
45%45%
25%25%
12%12%
3%3%
Figure 8
2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
education for techies. I’m trying to start a lo-
cal professional development group so we
can share knowledge and get experience that
helps advance our careers,” she said. She not-
ed that businesses will reason that they don’t
want to pay to train employees who may then
leave to work someplace else, but she opined,
“That sounds like a lot of fried chicken.”
Job Satisfaction and Security
Despite the challenges of the industry, 89%
of respondents said they feel a career in IT is as
secure or more secure than most other careers.
And a majority said they feel a career path in IT
and the potential for salary advancement are
as promising today as five years ago — 50% for
staff and 57% for management. (See Figure 9.)
Overall job satisfaction rates were equally
optimistic and have risen slightly since our last
survey in 2014. Seventy-one percent of man-
agers and 61% of staff were satisfied or very
satisfied by all aspects of their job, including
compensation, benefits, and other factors.
In contrast, only 8% of managers and 15% of
staff said they were dissatisfied or very dissat-
isfied. To underline that point, a mere 10% of
respondents related they are actively looking
for a new job with a different employer. (See
Figure 8.)
Of course, a happy and productive work
environment is the result of a combination
of many factors. When asked, “What mat-
ters most to you about your job?” the num-
ber one response, predictably, was base pay.
Ranked almost as high was company stability,
followed by having one’s opinion and knowl-
edge valued, benefits, challenge of the job,
job atmosphere, and flexible work schedule.
Said one respondent, “There are lots of new
opportunities in IT even if the salary is not go-
ing up. Once you get to a certain point, money
only goes so far.”
reports
Promising Career Path
Do you believe a career path in IT and the potential for salary advancement are as promising
today as they were five years ago?
Base: 248 staff and 202 managers
Data: InformationWeek 2016 US IT Salary Survey of 450 networking and data center management professionals, April 2016
Not as promising UnsureAs promising today
ManagementStaff
23%23%
50%50%
38%38%
12%12%
7%7%
57%57%36%36%
Figure 9
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2016 IT Infrastructure Salary Survey
Conclusion
IT has always been a demanding career,
requiring constant education and a list of
certifications for those wanting to truly excel.
However, new market dynamics focused on
applications and services could be challeng-
ing the wisdom of deep specialization, espe-
cially for those working in networking and
data centers. The answer is clearly additional
training and education, but becoming a full
stack engineer is not a realistic goal for many,
nor does it fit within the traditional IT depart-
ments our survey respondents inhabit.
To remain relevant, infrastructure profession-
als must understand exactly how they contrib-
ute to their organizations’ success and how
they can make even more of an impact. Com-
panies are transforming to leverage newer and
better technology and need staff who can
recommend platforms and products that can
achieve their business goals. Perhaps an orga-
nization needs faster production times, better
customer data, or a more efficient salesforce.
Technology is the key to solving these prob-
lems, and technologists who contribute to
the strategic as well as the technical discus-
sion will likely find continued success.
reports
July 2016 14