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When comparing annual bonuses for storage professionals in various industries, financial services led the pack. Storage professionals in this sector say they anticipate an average 2008 bonus of $13,324. Of course, those estimates were provided before the credit crisis on Wall Street turned catastrophic, casting a pall over the nation's lending institutions and leading to massive buyouts and bailouts (see "Most storage jobs safe after fallout," below). In 2008, however, storage professionals working in financial services earned an average of $91,881. That lagged behind independent contractors ($126,667), media/publishing ($96,333) and IT services ($93,964) (see "Average 2008 salary by industry," below).


 


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Most storage jobs safe after fallout
The full impact of this fall's U.S. financial crisis, and its impact on IT jobs, won't be known for some time. For now, industry experts predict that only the highest paying IT jobs will take a hit.

"I don't see a massive contraction of their compensation," says Kaushik Roy, an analyst at Pacific Growth Equities in San Francisco. When British banking giant Barclay's paid $1.7 billion to bail out Lehman Brothers' North American operations, Lehman's data center operations were key to the deal, says Roy, adding that "their data center asset management is one of their crown jewels. I don't see them making a change there."

In general, he says, IT folks in New York City should be hardest hit and may have to settle for a salary reduction to stay in the city. "There could be some shifts here and there," says Roy, "but these people are very much in demand."

David Foote, CEO at Foote Partners LLC in Vero Beach, FL, an IT skills and salary research firm, agrees: "There are some regulated industries I wouldn't want to be in right now; I think everyone at Lehman or Merrill Lynch would be nervous." But most of the jobs lost will likely be sales and marketing, he predicts. "To tell you the truth, I don't think IT is going to be that inconvenienced--only to the degree where there are redundant systems [and mergers]."

 

 

This was first published in November 2008

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