DEVOPSdigest

Most IT practitioners in the United States earn $100,000 or more in annual salary (up from 47 percent last year), according to Puppet's 2016 DevOps Salary Report.

The report also found that 43 percent of IT managers earn $150,000 or more, up from 26 percent last year.

"Today, software is everywhere and is the driver of every business," said Nigel Kersten, CIO of Puppet. "For organizations to compete in this new world, they need the people and technology that enable a frictionless delivery of high quality software. This year's DevOps Salary Report shows that organizations are realizing the pressures of these dynamics and are pushing to hire, retain and manage the best IT teams to gain a strong competitive advantage."

In this year's survey, for the first time, respondents were also asked to report on the number of servers and employees in their organization. Data revealed that organizations with more than 10,000 servers pay the highest percentage of salaries that are $150,000 annually or more. These findings show that companies investing the most in servers and infrastructure are also investing the most in the employees who are managing them.

The 2016 State of DevOps Salary Report also revealed:

- IT managers and practitioners in the US earn more than peers around the world. The most common manager salary is $150,000+ in the U.S., $75,000-$99,999 in Western Europe, and $35,000-$49,999 in Asia. The most common practitioner salary is $100,000-$125,000 in the US, $50,000-$75,000 in Western Europe, and less than $25,000 in Asia.

- The most lucrative practitioner salaries by industry are in the US. IT practitioners based in the US are more likely to earn $100,000+ if they work in the technology (65 percent), media/entertainment (65 percent), retail/consumer/e-commerce (65 percent) or finance (61 percent) industries.

- Organizations with mature DevOps practices typically pay more. US organizations with the most mature DevOps practices are more likely to compensate IT operations employees $100,000 or more per year.

- Sysadmins aren't making as much as their peers. The most common salary range for sysadmins in the US is $75,000-$100,000, while the four other most common practitioner titles (systems developer/engineer, DevOps engineer, software developer/engineer, and architect) are most likely to earn $100,000-$125,000.

The salary report is based on data gathered from more than 4,600 respondents to the survey.

Tim Zonca is VP of Product Marketing for Puppet.