The 27th annual Computerworld Salary Survey was administered via the Internet. Responses from both Computerworld print subscribers and visitors to Computerworld.com were included in the survey results.
Starting on Oct. 9, 2012, the following methods were used to invite participants to take the survey:
Visitors to Computerworld.com were presented with a pop-up box inviting them to participate in the 2013 Salary Survey (with a frequency cap of once per user). Visitors were given the option of bypassing the survey to get to their intended destinations.
Links to the survey were included in various Computerworld email newsletters.
Computerworld subscribers employed in IT job functions were sent an email inviting them to participate in the survey. Sample members could either click on the address to gain access to the questionnaire or enter the address using a Web browser. A survey could not be submitted more than once for each respondent.
Cookies were used to ensure that there was no duplication of responses between or within the various sample groups. In addition, duplicate responses from the same email address were removed.
The survey ended Dec. 17, 2012. A total of 5,046 people responded to the survey. Of those respondents, 4,251 were employed full or part time and were eligible to complete the entire survey. At the 95% confidence level, the margin of error for this sample size is 1.5 percentage points.
Demographics
Eighty-five percent of the respondents were men, 99% were employed full time, and 45% said a bachelor's degree was their highest level of education. Respondents had an average of 18 years in IT, and their average age was 46.
Fifty-four percent indicated that they had some level of computer certification.
The organizations the respondents work for employ an average total of 8,557 people each and have an average of 992 IT staffers each. The average 2012 revenue of respondents' employers was $2.91 billion. Twenty-four percent of the respondents work for public companies, while 45% work for private companies, 10% work in government, 12% in education and 9% at nonprofits.
Eighty-two percent of our respondents reported that they held the same job title as the previous year. Forty percent indicated that they were in management, and 60% said they held staff or technical positions.
The best-represented industry in the sample was IT services, with 15% of the respondents saying they worked in that field. Eighteen percent reported living in the South Atlantic region of the country, and another 18% reported living in the Central region, making those geographic areas the best represented.