SOA Inflating CIO Pay
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Want to move up? Talk your company into launching a SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) project. If SOA drives your department already, jump on that project.
CIO Magazine for January 2007 says CIOs make (on average) $250,000 managing a SOA project, and $159,000 without. The IT budget is bigger as well, which may explain some of the salary difference.
Ready to buy a new suit and start managing upward? The personal skill most pivotal to CIO success, according to the magazine survey, is the ability to communicate effectively. Last on the list? Technical proficiency. How do CIOs spend their time? Schmoozing with other CXO level executives. You know, gnoshing with vice presidents and others in the executive lunch room. The bad news is that the average CIO makes $23,562 less now than five years ago after adjusting for inflation.
How does all this apply to you? I believe technical administrators should learn to manage people as well as manage technology, and this reinforces my belief. The higher up the ladder, the lower the need for technical proficiency. This isn't bad, because higher pay grades pull the focus away from the gritty details and encompass more of the business. It's tough to both configure settings on routers and understand the corporate global network integration with business processes and trading partners.
Practice explaining technology in terms of benefits, solutions, and time saving tricks rather than speeds and feeds. The number one view of IT's impact on the enterprise? How much IT enabled business innovation.
Top of the jobs to fill list? Project managers, followed by application developers. What do they have in common? Direct connection to business units, and business people, outside the IT department. Yes, project management stinks and buries you in paperwork, but it gives you a higher profile and the ability to make positive changes for the company.
I believe at least half of SOA is vendor-driven hype, because IT has always been a service organization. Many IT departments got away from thinking of themselves that way, however, and SOA is the pendulum swinging back. Get on that pendulum and ride upwards if you want more money. Or change jobs and start over with a new reputation in a new location with SOA. Either way, remember that service is back in style. You can get everything you want if you help others get what they want.
ITworld.com
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