IT Salaries to Increase by 5.3 Percent in 2008

Application Developers Show Largest Salary Increase in U.S. According to Bluewolf's Research NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 25, 2008 - Starting salaries for IT professionals in the U.S. will increase an average of 5.3 percent over 2007, according to research conducted by Bluewolf (www.bluewolf.com), a leading on-demand IT resourcing and consulting firm.  Application developers are predicted to have the largest increase in base compensation, rising 7.6 percent from 2007 to 2008, bringing their salaries to between $80,250 and $112,500. 

"Companies are creating new IT jobs as fast or faster than they can export them overseas," said Michael Kirven, Bluewolf co-founder and principal.  "These trends clearly lead to a rise in demand for IT professionals in the U.S., resulting in a significant increase in the average salary."

According to Bluewolf's research, the following IT positions also are predicted to show salary growth in 2008:

• Application architects will experience a starting salary rise of 7.5 percent in 2008, to between $87,250 to $120,000.
• Project managers' salaries are expected to increase 7.4 percent from 2007 to 2008, with an average starting salary of between $85,000 to $150,000 annually.
• Quality assurance analysts can expect base compensation to increase by 5.1 percent in 2008, to between $65,250 and $85,500.
• Network security administrators' starting salary will increase by 3.7 percent, ranging from $81,500 and $102,500.

NOTE: The Bluewolf salary research is primarily focused on New York area salaries, which are approximately 25 percent higher than salaries in the Northeast and West Coast, and 50 percent higher than the national average.  Salary information on additional IT positions is available.

Importantly, database administrators continue to be in strong demand and are among the top earners, with compensation ranging from $70,000 - $130,000.  According to Bluewolf's Kirven, database administrators are in short supply and many organizations are turning to significant cost-savings programs such as the Bluewolf Remote DBA service, which enables organizations to outsource that function to a U.S.-based team of professionals.

Bluewolf is an on demand IT resourcing and consulting firm headquartered in New York City.  Bluewolf provides staffing augmentation and placement services for hard-to-find software developers, project managers, and business analysts, serving clients that have immediate needs for deep expertise in specific technologies and software deployment processes.  All Bluewolf staffing resources are based in the U.S.

About Bluewolf

Founded in 2000, Bluewolf is an on-demand enterprise consulting company that specializes in the deployment of enterprise software applications and in business process consulting.  Through its Customer Success Guarantee, Bluewolf is reinventing the concept of enterprise consulting, one that is tailor made for the on-demand world.  Bluewolf's practices incorporate three main areas: On-Demand Consulting, On-Demand IT Resourcing and On-Demand Remote Services.  With offices across North America and now in Europe, Bluewolf's customers include Foundry Networks, Borland, General Electric, Wall Street Journal and Staples.  More information about the company can be found at www.bluewolf.com.

###

For more media information, contact:

Lisa Hendrickson
LCH Communications for Bluewolf
516-767-8390
516-643-1642 (cell)
lisa@lchcommunications.com