Enterprise Connect Research: 2018 Career & Salary Survey

Top Job Responsibilities

For the majority of the 322 respondents of Enterprise Connect Research’s 2018 Career & Salary Survey, the care of and responsibility for on-premises communications platforms live on as a top primary job function. That’s to say, far more of them have identified a premises-based or a premises-cloud mix as their primary area of concern compared to those who have singled out cloud communications alone as the area in which their job is most concerned. Job responsibilities for another handful are aligned with the contact center, and some respondents -- those likely to have some developer skills -- are working most closely with communications APIs and embedded communications.

Looked at by company size, the percentages stay relatively consistent for those respondents working at large enterprises (1,000 or more users). And, as you might expect, we see a higher degree of responsibility for cloud communications and the use of communications APIs at smaller companies (fewer than 100 users) than at medium (between 100 and 999 users) and larger-sized enterprises.

Technology Specialization

IT professionals looking to move into the communications and collaboration shop would be well-advised to brush up on their telecom/communications knowledge (no surprise there), IP networking know-how (these apps do ride over IP, after all), and video conferencing (the oft-claimed primary communication mode of the future). That's because more respondents identified having direct experience, training, or specialization in these three disciplines than any others we asked about, as you can see above. As for the future, respondents gave a more vigorous nod to the importance of understanding artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) for career advancements than these four other categories: digital transformation, app development/integration (i.e., knowing how to work with APIs and SDKs), the Internet of Things (IoT), and speech interfaces/technologies. But none was leaps and bounds ahead of any other.

Satisfaction with Advancement Opportunities

Whether for performing their jobs today or for career advancement, respondents consider programming/development, financial/budgeting, and the ability to negotiate/interface with vendors as the top three most important skills. We can extrapolate these to the rising trend of a software-centric, cloud-based, pay-as-you-go usage model that companies are starting to embrace for communications and collaboration services. However, fewer than 20% of respondents are very satisfied with their current employer’s commitment to providing career advancement opportunities -- with 8% being very dissatisfied, as shown above.

Allegiance, Love for Job, Inertia?

As we see in this year’s survey results and in our historical data, IT professionals working in communications-related IT disciplines are in it for the long haul, based on two measures: time working in the field and years at their current company. Slightly more than half of respondents (52%) have been working in the IT/communications field for more than 15 years. While that percentage drops to 20% on an employer basis, an expanded view shows that 55% of respondents have been with their current companies since at least 2012. Question is, is this a sign of allegiance, love for the job, or inertia? Fifteen percent of those working in IT/communications for more than 15 years have held the same position for just as long.

What You Most Like About Your Job

As we learned in the previous slide, our survey respondents tend to stay put at one place for a while. When asked what they most like about their jobs, based on their responses it appears they’ve found spots with just the right balance of people and technology -- with 37% of respondents giving a nod to the people they work with and 29% to the technology in play, more so than any other reason. And it’s certainly not because of pay or career prospects, as you can see in the slide above.

Top 5 Job Factors

IT professionals included in communications-related disciplines are pretty much on the same page with how they rate the importance of nine job factors -- check… check… check… the majority of respondents indicated that factors such as compensation, benefits package, and work/life balance are extremely important or very important to them. And while just as many -- 88% -- also consider the same regarding the value of their contributions to their companies and customers, they don’t appear to have equal concerns about the impact their work might have on society at large. This factor rated lowest in importance, with only 45% ranking it as extremely or very important while two-thirds said it was of moderate importance and 23% considering it only slightly or not at all important.

How Much You Earn

Roughly half of the 2018 survey respondents hold titles of manager or higher, with the other half at the staff level. Salaries, of course, reflect this range, with respondents reporting salaries at both the high and low ends of our six designated salary ranges, and a scattering in between the extremes. Overall, 53% of respondents reported earning less than $100,000 in base salary plus incentives and bonuses, while 47% said their total compensation was at or above the six-figure mark.

Compensation Trends

A hard-working 45% of respondents reported having received at least one substantial salary increase (6% or more) within the last five years, due to performance, additional training and education, or a change in position or employer, as shown above. With a salary boost as a potential benefit, perhaps that’s why 64% of respondents separately indicated that they felt formal training or certification was extremely or very important to their career advancement.

Join us at Enterprise Connect 2019, March 18 to 21, in Orlando, Fla., for all the insight you’ll need to help build your communications and collaboration future. As a No Jitter reader, you can even save $200 off the registration fee by entering the code NJPOSTS. The Advance Rate ends Jan. 11, 2019, so register today!