The year 2000 saw a slow down in IT, with the Y2K anti-climax, the absence of a post-Y2K surge, the demise of a few local IT companies, the departure of some international players, and the succession of dot-bombs.
While the IT hype has since subsided, the demand for IT talent by far outstrips the supply. The result, as shown by ITWeb`s 2001 Salary Survey, is that South African IT professionals made more money in 2000 than they did the previous year, although the gains were not as sharp as before.
How the survey was done
Now in its third year, ITWeb`s Salary Survey is unique in that it polls South African IT professionals rather than employers or recruitment specialists. As it is conducted solely online, the survey sample is not controlled. However, ITWeb is an IT and telecommunications news and information service, targeting primarily IT professionals. It has an estimated audience of 50 000 readers a month, of which approximately 75% are South African. About 90% of these local readers are IT professionals, which makes for an excellent pool of respondents.
The survey was conducted online between 20 November 2000 and 24 January 2001. During this time, 3 788 valid responses were captured - a response rate of 11% of ITWeb`s professional readership, indicating a keen interest for salary data.
Research partner BMI-TechKnowledge compiled the questionnaire and did the preliminary data cleaning and analysis. Further analysis and data queries were undertaken by ITWeb Research Desk.
Statistical reporting
We report on the sample median values rather than the sample mean or average, which was used in previous results reports. The comparisons with last year`s data are therefore limited to key findings.
The median is generally considered to be a more effective and robust measure of the "typical" earner, better at reflecting the common experience than the mean.
The median is particularly relevant to this survey sample, which reflects a wide gap between top and bottom earners. The median statistic is not very sensitive to extreme (minimum or maximum) values, while the mean or average statistic can be badly inflated by the presence of one or two multimillionaires - and this sample includes quite a few.
The sample: strong bias towards white males in Gauteng
Gender and race: Mostly male and pale
Our sample suggests that the IT industry remains male and white dominated, with only 19% of respondents being female and only about 21% non-white.
The recruitment and HR specialists we spoke to believe the number of women IT professionals is higher than our sample would suggest, and could be as high as 40%.
Jill Hamlyn, head of recruitment consultancy The People Business, says the finding that South African IT is still dominated by white males is no surprise. "We have inherited this from our educational base and it`s going to take years to change.
"Technical prowess has traditionally fed this industry and people who came into the job market in the 1970s and 1980s were males who went into the accounting, scientific and logical fields. Schools are only now promoting female and black students into those industries," notes Hamlyn.
Tebogo Makgatho, senior research analyst at Forge Ahead BMI-T, says women are entering the industry, but "very, very slowly" and "at lower level jobs".
Simon White, joint MD of Forge Ahead BMI-T, says there are no solid figures available on the number of black information and communication technology (ICT) professionals. Forge Ahead BMI-T`s best estimate, according to its Black Achievers 2000 publication, is about 5 000. However, last year saw a sharp increase in black ICT companies - over 180, up from 120 in 1990 and only 70 the year before that.
Forge Ahead estimates that about half of all black IT professionals are employed by one of these 180 companies, while others work for government or parastatal organisations, and a wide range of other companies. One can then attempt to estimate the size of the black IT community based on the turnover of these companies.
"The combined 1999 turnover of black ICT companies was 15% of the R32 billion South African IT market," says White.
Age: Young and restless
It`s an industry that belongs to the young, with 55% of the sample under the age of 30 and as many as 74% under 35. However, years of experience and the resultant increased responsibility command higher salaries.
The young age of the sample is in line with the years spent in IT. Just less than a third (28%) have spent between five and 10 years in IT, but the majority (43%) of respondents have been in IT for less than five years.
Education: Fair rewards
The sample reflects a fairly even distribution of all education levels. The largest single group is matriculants (24%), followed by professionals with a technikon diploma (22%) and a university degree (20%).
The high percentage of matriculants underlines the shortage of IT skills, where IT training and certification courses were chosen over traditional tertiary education. Interestingly, people with matric reported a higher median than those with a technikon diploma.
"This could be because older people have only got matric, because a lot of people went straight into IT in the old days and didn`t do a degree," notes Janette Cumming, a recruitment specialist and a director of Paracon Holdings.
Today, one of the barriers is that one has to have either a technikon diploma or a degree to break into IT. "You almost can`t get into IT now if you`ve only got matric," says Cumming.
But apart from this anomaly, the more skilled people earn higher salaries. A significant bump up in salaries is evident for IT professionals with masters and PhD degrees.
Industry sector: IT-proper dominates
Some 51% of the sample work in IT companies, with a further 6% in the telecommunications sector. The rest of the sample is evenly distributed across other industries, the largest representation being in banking and finance (10%), while other industries have between 1% and 5%.
The lowest median salaries were reported by those working for non-profit organisations, and the highest median by those in parastatals. However, the highest single basic salary reported of R1 900 000 is earned in IT, followed by banking, consulting and marketing/advertising with an annual basic of R1 800 000 reported in each.
Size of company: From 10 to 5 000
Respondents were spread across companies of various sizes, both in terms of company turnover and staff complement.
A third of the sample work in small IT departments numbering between one and 10 IT workers, and another third in companies with over 100 IT people, and 24% in large companies with over 200 IT people.
Geographic location: The silicon Gauteng
Exactly how much IT professionals earn depends on where they live: 65% of our sample lives and works in Gauteng, and earns the highest salaries. Some 22% are in Western Cape, followed by 6% in KwaZulu-Natal. Interestingly, only 13 respondents, or 0.34% of the sample, work in the Northern Province, but reported the second highest median salary.
Type of employment: Stability prevails
The majority of the sample (86%) has permanent employment, while only 7% are freelancers and 6% contractors.
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