These are the highest-paid UK tech roles - allegedly
For years tech professionals have enjoyed their pick of roles, as demand for cloud, security and DevOps experts grows.
At the same time, constrained supply - also known as the skills gap - has worked with this higher demand to boost tech salaries to record levels. And in an industry where the norm is to change jobs every couple of years, compensation keeps climbing.
Some IT leaders fear this is a bubble that will inevitably burst. Andy Caddy, CIO of PureGym, cites "the over-inflation of developer and engineer salaries" as one of his top concerns in IT today.
"You only have to talk to any friendly recruiter to hear horror stories of people leaving for £20,000, £30,000 jumps in salary, just crazy stuff.
"That's a worry for a couple of reasons. One is it's clearly some sort of bubble, it can't go on like that forever, and you worry where you're going to end up; you're going to end up with graduates on ninety grand. It's kind of crazy, it's not sustainable. I mean, good luck to them, but it's not sustainable."
On the other hand, IT professionals outside the C-level are enjoying a golden era of high demand and high pay, with above-inflation pay rises the norm in some roles.
With the industry thriving - UK tech reached a $1 trillion valuation last year - TechShielder has used Indeed's Salary Guide Tool to find what it says are the best-paid roles in the industry outside leadership level.
- Senior Software Engineer: £63,824
- Operations Engineer: £61,745
- Data Engineer: £60,731
- Back End Developer: £57,550
- Full Stack Developer: £56,915
- Front End Developer: £55,342
- Software Developer: £55,015
- Net Developer: £52,677
- Software Engineer: £49,267
- UX Designer: £45,305
Engineers and developers unsurprisingly dominate the list, taking nine of the 10 top spots. However, tech industry veterans take issue with the figures.
For starters, separating 'Software Developer' and 'Software Engineer' seems like an odd choice, as they're essentially the same role.
The lack of any of the traditionally higher-paying roles on the list is also confusing. For example, Data Scientists and consultants are missing.
And finally, the numbers shown, although based on an average of advertised salaries on Indeed, are just too low: tens of thousands of pounds off what recruiters are actually seeing, in some cases.
Tim Davey, co-founder at InfraView and a 19-year technology channel veteran, says, "From what I have heard from pals who do development, you're struggling to get a decent developer much below £80,000 nowadays."
He also provided some numbers based on his own experiences in the UK IT solution provider channel.
"Across infrastructure, cloud or networking technologies like Azure, 365 and Cisco it's these levels:
- Presales Solution Architects: £70,000-£110,000 basics + OTE or bonus
- Programme Managers £70,000 - £100,000 basics + bonus
- Technical Architects £70,000 - £100,000 basics + bonus
- Product Managers: £55,000 - £80,000 basics + bonus
- Consultants: £50,000 - £90,000 basics + bonus"
Davey thinks IT salaries will level out, rather than decrease.
"Our sector is pretty resilient and maybe slightly sheltered. While the macroeconomic situation doesn't look positive...people always need technology."