[CHART]The increased importance of enterprise resource planning (ERP) for a wide range of businesses, including those in the middle and lower-middle ranges, is reflected in the results of the survey which show that these skills are among the most highly valued.
SAP skills are the most highly paid, with an average total monthly package of R29 396 reported, rising from only eighth position last year. Skills on the JD Edwards platform command the fourth highest salaries, with an average of R26 202.
Database and server skills are among the four most highly paid, with Adabas skills a close second to SAP with an average salary of R26 818, and AS400 skills in third place at R26 410.
Like ERP, customer relationship management (CRM) is enjoying increasing attention, with Microsoft moving into this market for the first time this year with plans of becoming a leader in the mid-market CRM space in the next five years.
Siebel skills are the most highly paid in the CRM space, at an average salary of R25 216 a month.
In eighth position (down from fourth last year), the value of Oracle skills has slipped by less than R100 a month to R23 135. It is likely this level is being buoyed by the continued importance of database skills, indicated by IBM DB2`s leap from twelfth to seventh most highly paid at R24 727.
Unix skills continue to be better paid than Linux and Microsoft, at an average of R24 888. The gap with Linux widened by just over R5 000, despite increasing support for Linux from IBM, Sun and Oracle. It will be interesting to see what happens to this gap in the coming year.
Although, on average, Linux skills have not increased much in value, Linux has overtaken Microsoft by moving up one position into the thirteenth most highly paid platform. Microsoft remains in fifteenth position and seems to have an extremely strong user base, with more than half of the respondents using this platform, although it is far from being the most highly paid.
On the programming side, Java has leaped ahead of Natural and Cobol and remains well ahead of Delphi, reflecting increased adoption of Java across a wide variety of applications and a recession in the importance of legacy skills as companies consolidate, rationalise, update application sets, and move to application integration solutions.
Novell remains the lowest on the scale, although the average value of Novell skills in this sample has increased by about R2 600 over last year. Interestingly, a certified Novell administrator can command about R3 000 more than the average for the Novell platform, indicating that certification has a role to play. Similarly, Sun-certified Java developers earn R8 000 more than the average Java developer.
Worth certifying
The top four most highly paid certifications differ from the top four platforms, with only SAP appearing in both groups. In terms of certifications, Sun-certified Java architects lead the pack with an average salary of R38 444, followed by Cisco-certified developer professionals at R31 875 and SAP consultants at R30 950.
[CHART]Surprisingly, the top CompTIA certification is the one for document imaging architects, followed, more logically, by IT Project+ at an average salary of R22 536. With the increased emphasis on project driven assignments, it is likely that this certification will increase in prominence from fourteenth highest position by next year`s survey.
Another surprising result was that there was only a single respondent with CompTIA`s eBiz+ certification and the Internet, web, e-business, and e-commerce field was the only one to reflect a drop when compared to last year`s survey.
The presence of two Cisco certifications in the top four certifications - CCDP (Cisco Certified Developer Professional) and CCIE (Cisco Certified Internet Engineer) - is consistent with the increased importance of network and data security systems.
The continued low position and slight drop in level of remuneration for CompTIA`s certifications like A+ and i-Net+ indicates an oversupply of these entry-level skills.
These statistics also point to the possibility that, although certifications are important, ultimately it is the combination of IT field, certification and experience that will guarantee a position in the magic quadrant of the most highly paid.
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