Although mean compensation for all IT professionals has remained flat in the last year, CIO salaries have fallen slightly, while the salaries of those who report to the CIO have increased, finds an IT compensation study released by Janco Associates.

"We're starting to see a shift in the hiring infrastructure in IT organization," Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janus Associates, told eWEEK.

"They've cut back in the last few years but they're starting to look more toward service-oriented architecture. Midlevel positions that are associated with delivery of services, positions that typically cannot be outsourced, are in greater demand."

The greatest single increase in overall compensation, at 9.19 percent, was with data security administrators in midsize companies.

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Yet, enough middle management positions in large enterprises saw increases—such as LAN applications managers (8.42 percent), computer operations shift supervisors (8.25 percent), data warehouse managers (6.91 percent) and voice and data communication managers (6.61 percent)—that Janulaitis felt it could suggest a trend.

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"It is a sign of good things in that people are being stretched. In the last three to four years, people have viewed IT as a cost center, now they're concerned about customer services and response."

The largest single salary decrease, 9.57 percent, fell upon vice presidents of administration in midsized enterprises, a top-level position.

"What's surprising to me is the length of this recession we've had in IT. It must be a sign that IT is a matured function, that people are focusing on managing it better," Janulaitis said.

The study found high demand in the areas of internet and e-commerce, voice and wireless communication, object programming, data security and data warehousing.

"Jobs are going to be in the area of GUI implementations. More and more, people are connected to the internet and they want things to be look and feel intuitive," Janulaitis said.

Overall, salaries in large enterprises, from executives and middle managers to staff-level employees, grew .48 percent, or from $80,276 to $80,661, while salaries across the board in midsize enterprises fell from $75,406 to $75,316, or .36 percent.

Janco compiled their IT salary research between January 2005 and January 2006, speaking to 812 large and 1,176 midsize companies.

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