Salary survey results – are YOU being paid enough?

 

 (Used with permission from Dilbert.com)

Following on from the survey I did about what your company is doing for you and vice-versa (see Job security, loyalty, and employee retention: you need to take control), people asked for a salary survey – so I complied a couple of weeks ago (see here for the survey).

The results show a very wide range in salaries for all ranges of experience. Bear in mind that salaries will vary not just because of experience, but also because of responsibility, full-time vs. contractor, regional cost of living, and other things.

Of course, the only person who can accurately gauge whether you're being paid enough is you but this at least gives you a rough idea of how the DBA community is being paid and how your salary stacks up against those of other people.


US/Canada Results (in US$)

 

 


Europe Results (in Euros)

 

 


Rest Of The World Results

(Alphabetical by country, slightly sanitized, some results removed because I couldn't figure out what was meant.)

  • Argentina
    • 0 years experience, AR$ 90,000
  • Australia
    • 5 years experience, AU$ 125,000
    • 8 years experience, AU$ 80,000
    • 8 years experience, AU$ 140,000
    • 10 years experience, AU$ 105,000
    • 10 years experience, AU$ 140,000
    • 10 years experience, AU$ 140,000
    • 10 years experience, AU$ 200,000
    • 13 years experience, AU$ 130,000
    • 15 years experience, AU$ 190,000+
    • 18 years experience, AU$ 125,000
  • Brazil
    • 2 years experience, R$ 35,000
    • 3 years experience, R$ 42,000 
    • 7 years experience, R$ 57,000
    • 8 years experience, R$ 96,000
  • Hungary
    • 11 years experience, HUF 1,100,000
  • India
    • 1 years experience, INR 240,000
    • 1 years experience, INR 384,000
    • 2 years experience, INR 2,100,000
    • 3 years experience, INR 560,000
    • 3 years experience, INR 630,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 500,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 600,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 650,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 900,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 1,100,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 1,500,000
    • 5 years experience, INR 1,600,000
    • 6 years experience, INR 1,000,000
    • 7 years experience, INR 645,000
    • 7 years experience, INR 1,700,000
    • 8 years experience, INR 600,000
    • 8 years experience, INR 930,000
    • 8 years experience, INR 1,560,000
  • Mexico
    • 3 years experience, MXN 465,000
    • 5 years experience, MXN 293,000
    • 6 years experience, MXN 450,000
    • 12 years experience, MXN 872,000
  • New Zealand
    • 3 years experience, NZ$ 80,000
    • 4 years experience, NZ$ 75,000
    • 8 years experience, NZ$ 125,000
    • 10 years experience, NZ$ 113,000
    • 10 years experience, NZ$ 120,000
    • 15 years experience, NZ$ 125,000
    • 15 years experience, NZ$ 315,000
  • Peru
    • 3 years experience, PEN 85,000
  • Russia
    • 3 years experience, RUB 409,000
    • 13 years experience, RUB 1,000,000
  • Singapore
    • 10 years experience, SGD 45,000
    • 13 years experience, SGD 100,000
  • South Africa
    • 7 years experience, ZAR 300,000 after tax
    • 9 years experience, ZAR 380,000
    • 14 years experience, ZAR 666,000+
  • Sri Lanka
    • 5 years experience, LKR 1, 536,000
  • Ukraine
    • 10 years experience, UAH 16,000

7 thoughts on “Salary survey results – are YOU being paid enough?

  1. Thank you Paul for this survey. It is extremely helpful. I have to wonder though on Europe side. I think in Europe the difference in annual salary is huge between countries. I am from Romania and a medium of 20000 EUR per year / 5-6 years experience is considered a very good one. The best you can get :)
    As far as I know and where I have worked it is almost impossible to have beyond 30000 EUR / year with 5 years experience.

  2. Interesting data for the US. It also shows why I chose to leave my previous job. I’m not saying I’m happier with my job now. I will say I feel a bit more appreciated if slightly less in control. My bills are certainly easier to cope with.

    By bouncing around on contracts for a year I managed to land somewhere permanent at about 35% more than I was making previously. 35% raise in a year…yes please, and thank you.

  3. @yrushka Very good point but additionally salaries can vary by a huge amount within a country. Check out the difference in salary between Central London and somewhere like Huddersfield in Northern England.

  4. Interesting, but unfortunately the European data is almost meaningless as yrushka (Romania = 0.2) indicates. By looking at the eurostats web page for average wages across the European countries and weighting the individual countries against the average you get a variation of relative salaries for 2008 of between 0.12 (Bulgaria) and 2.01 (Denmark). I suspect the DBA salaries follow this variation to at least a limited degree.

  5. You’re absolutely right Rhys, the salaries differ from country to country and a lot between cities. I wasn’t very clear though… In my example I considered the Bucharest (capital) and top companies.

  6. Would you mind holding another poll? I think it could help the community to see what this looks like 7 years later.

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