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Third Annual Network/IS Managers' Salary and Job Satisfaction Survey

By Bob Violino Despite the high stress level of their work and the furious pace of change in networking and information technology, the majority of network and IS management professionals remain satisfied with their jobs. One possible reason: Their salaries are up 8 percent from a year earlier, according to Network Computing's third annual network/IS managers' salary and job satisfaction survey.

The survey of 515 executives--with such job functions as network/LAN management, departmental/divisional IS management, central IS management and network/LAN specialist--shows that 85 percent of the respondents are satisfied with their jobs. While that number is identical to last year's survey, the number of managers who said they're very satisfied with their job rose to 31 percent from 23 percent in 19 97.

What factor contributes most to their job satisfaction? Thirty-six percent of the managers said it's the challenge of their work. Challenge is something many of the managers are familiar with: 91 percent of them rated their work as very or moderately challenging while only 2 percent of the group said their work is not at all challenging.

The greatest challenge in doing their jobs, cited by 39 percent of the managers, is keeping up with changing technology and industry trends. In last year's survey, 35 percent gave that answer as the greatest challenge. This year, 35 percent said keeping up with their organizations' demands for IS projects and deployment was the greatest challenge, and 31 percent said keeping their skills current challenged them most.

"The industry is far more complex than it was in the past," says Erwin Cummings, manager of infrastructure and communications at Owens Illinois, a manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio. "T here's the Internet and related Web technologies, and the speeds of networks are increasing seemingly every day."

For Tim Gill, manager of technical support at First Financial Bank of South Dakota in Dupuis, S.D., the most dramatic development in the networking industry in recent years has been the breathtaking pace of change in new products and services. "What you have today may not be useful tomorrow, and what you have tomorrow may not be useful the next day," Gill says.

Twenty-two percent of the survey respondents said exposure to newer technologies, such as frame relay, contributes most to their job satisfaction. Less-common reasons cited by the managers include working for a company that is progressive in IT, 8 percent; having a good relationship with management, 7 percent; having the authority to make decisions, 5 percent; and salary and compensation, 5 percent.