A three percent salary increase for those working in IT in 2017 is nothing to sneeze at, but it is a bit lower than the previous two years’ salary increases, according to the 2017 ComputerWorld IT Salary Survey. The annual IT job market gain was less than management consulting firm Janco Associates initially projected for 2017 compared to 2016. Janco Associates released its 2018 salary survey and noted that “IT compensation for all IT Professionals increased by 3.5%,” and “The IT job market is poised for expansion. We predict that the IT job market will grow by 84,000 net new jobs.”
All this is pretty good news for anyone in IT, even if there is a bit of a slowdown compared to the previous year or two, but what does it mean, specifically, for Enterprise Architects?
Enterprise Architects have a unique role in IT, connecting information technology and project management, according to Indeed.com. They work to identify goals, policies, projections, and procedures that are common to both departments. They formulate a summary of business assets, business development plans, and IT processes, along with other business operations to create changes to grow a company’s ability to sustain itself and to expand. They use architectural models and work in concert with executives to create standards and baselines. They also play an important role in talent management. Ultimately, they find new ways to improve the IT department to support a company’s future business goals and to help ensure it stays viable, innovative, and agile in the coming years.
In general, Indeed.com data from submissions to Indeed by Enterprise Architect employees, users, and job advertisements in the last two years indicates that the average salary for this occupation is $131,845 per year.
Entry-Level
According to ComputerWorld, the average annual salary of a typical Enterprise Architect in 2017 was $133,830. An Enterprise Architect with between one and four years of IT experience earned about an average of $98,000 per year. This included bonuses. If you’re an Enterprise Architect with between five and nine years of experience working in IT, you can expect to earn about $132,333, on average, including bonuses. This is the 2017 figure, and the salary was just $122,913 for an Enterprise Architect fitting this profile in 2016, which is a 7.7% increase in overall salary.
Mid-Career
For those who have worked in IT for between 10 to 14 years, an Enterprise Architect could expect to earn $126,333 per year, on average, including bonuses, whereas the 2016 salary plus bonuses amount was $122,270. For those with between 15 and 19 years in IT, the average annual compensation was $135,357 in 2017, up 1.1% from $133,895 in 2016.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
While the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t report on Enterprise Architects’ salaries specifically, they do publish data for Computer Systems Analysts, who “study an organization’s current computer systems and procedures, and design solutions to help the organization operate more efficiently and effectively. They bring business and information technology (IT) together by understanding the needs and limitations of both,” which is very similar to the job description of an Enterprise Architect.
Just using this as comparison with the ComputerWorld data, the 2016 median pay was $87,220 per year. The lowest 10 percent made less than $53,110 per year, and the 25th percentile earned an average of $67,460 per year. The 75th percentile made an average of $111,040 per year. The highest 10 percent made over $137,690. The average annual wage, according to the BLS, was $91,620.
New Jersey was the highest-paying state with an average annual salary for this occupation of $102,310. Next was California at $101,440, followed by the District of Columbia at $101,240 per year
The top-paying metro area was the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA metropolitan division at $119,240 on average per year, followed by San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA at $116,530, and then Gainesville, GA at $116,400 per year, on average.
