If you are looking to venture into a tech career, one of the fundamental questions that’s probably on your mind is “how much do tech jobs pay?” Beyond spending your work hours on something you enjoy doing, you get to earn more than double the average wage in today’s economy.
- The highest paying jobs in tech include information security systems engineers, DevOps engineers, cloud architects, software engineer, software architects, application developers, data warehouse architects, and big data engineers.
- The median annual wage of a tech worker in the United States in 2021 was $97,430, which is more than double that of all occupations at $45,760.
- Employment in tech jobs is projected to grow by more than 15% between 2021 and 2031, creating about 682,800 new high paying tech jobs.
- The information revolution has changed how IT careers are viewed, and data-driven solutions to existing technological problems are in high demand.
- Tech jobs are all about showing your skills in solving specific problems, and you don’t need to have an IT degree to apply for the position as long as you have a proven track record or completed a bootcamp.
As tech companies ramp up their operations, this creates new career opportunities, and on average, the information technology segment posts more than 418,500 job openings annually. New careers in IT are also popping up as the adoption of artificial intelligence and robotics becomes widely accepted.
This guide covers everything you need to know about the highest paying jobs in technology.
What are tech jobs?
Tech jobs are careers that deal with computers and information systems. A tech career will revolve around computer programs and software, hardware, networking, and information systems maintenance. In the modern information age, where computer science and information technology are practically integrated into all business operations, tech jobs have become a primary concern for all startups and entrepreneurs. Having a career in tech can mean you get to work in ecommerce, robotics, manufacturing, communication, entertainment, research, transportation, cloud solutions, science, health care, engineering, or any other industry where computer systems are needed.
What do technology jobs pay?
The wages in tech vary depending on the expertise and level of complexity involved in the job. The median wage for tech jobs in the United States as of 2021 was $97,430. High-paying positions in tech can range anywhere from $250,00 to $500,000; some companies may even include stock options for top IT personnel. If you are looking for the highest paying jobs in tech, you will need to have a proven track record of working experience and academic qualifications to match. These can include a bachelor’s degree in IT and bootcamp completion certificates.
Highest paying tech jobs
Information security engineer
National median wage: $102,600 (2021)
Information security engineers monitor cybersecurity and implement network security protocols in an organization. It’s their job to protect all sensitive information from theft or hacks. To become an information security engineer, you require at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information management, or a closely related field such as cybersecurity. You will also be required to pass a cyber security certification program. This involves learning specific technologies and tools and showing mastery of cybersecurity skills.
Like most engineering positions, information security engineering is based on meritocracy, so having technical experience in cybersecurity will determine your starting salary. As a graduate looking for a career in information security engineering, your immediate priority should be securing a job to rack up some full-time experience while pursuing specific courses that offer certification exams. These include Information Systems security professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Comp TIA Secuirty+, or GIAC Security Essentials.
DevOps Engineer
National median wage: $120,730 (2021)
Developer operations or DevOps engineers serve a critical role in software development, deployment, and maintenance. A DevOps engineer’s job is to optimize the software development life cycle and break down complex ideas into actionable tasks when coding an application. The end result is that the task gets done much more quickly, efficiently, and with reliable results. A DevOps engineer manages the goals of the development team and the expectations of the IT operations team to strike out a balance between the stability of the overall application and the functionality of the new features.
DevOps engineers have to unify and automate the software development processes such as coding, application management, and maintenance tasks. As a software programming graduate planning to become a DevOps professional, you will need to immerse yourself in the DevOps culture, best practices, tools of the trade, and overarching philosophy. You should also consider joining DevOps innovation labs that offer certificates demonstrating your grasp of DevOps expertise and best practices.
Enterprise Architect
National median wage: $139,311 (2021)
Enterprise architects are some of the highest-paid IT professionals owing to their crucial role in IT operations. As an enterprise architect, it’s your job to establish, maintain and update your organization’s IT infrastructure. This role requires you to master the software and hardware needs of the company and keep the IT services in sync with existing enterprise goals across all departments.
Owing to the fact that most firms retain a mixture of modern and legacy systems, it’s the enterprise architect’s job to strategize and implement the best update and upgrade paths without affecting the day-to-day operations. This requires one to stay on top of industry trends and technology changes in services, hardware, and software that might boost business processes.
Beyond having a bachelor’s degree in computer science or related fields, most companies require you to have at least five years of IT experience before stepping into the role of an enterprise architect. The experience should be in data sourcing, modeling, enterprise data management, system architecture, data analytics, and auditing and compliance. Entry-level enterprise architect positions tend to pay lower, but extra experience and certification in professional cloud architecture from AWS and Google will boost you a bug boost.
Software Developer
National median wage: $109,020 (2021)
Software developers design computer programs, write code and oversee the process of testing, rolling out, and maintaining applications. It’s the work of a software developer to map out the design process by drafting out steps and creating flowcharts and models that instruct programmers on how to write the code.
The position of a software developer is critical for the success of software as they have to ppt out future upgrades, bug fixes, and enhancements and collaborate with all specialists involved in the project. The wages vary depending on technical skills in software engineering and the number of programming languages you have experience in. Software developers are in high demand in software publishing companies, systems manufacturing, and enterprise management sectors. The entry-level position requires you to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field.
Software engineering manager
National median wage: $163,500 (2021)
Software engineering managers oversee the designing and development of software is one of the best paying tech jobs. It’s the job of software engineers to coordinate teams of software developers, big data engineers and programmers to ensure that the software application development milestones are achieved. As a software engineering manager, you have to ensure that rollout timelines and budgetary constraints are met while also maintaining a healthy work environment for all employees involved in the programming work.
To become a software engineering manager, you require extensive knowledge and experience in software development and a minimum of a master’s degree in computer science or a related field. This managerial position often comes with stock options on top of good wages.
Data warehouse architect
National median wage: $154,400 (2021)
Data warehousing architecture is one of the highest paying jobs in technology, and it involves creating data storage solutions based on the latest data warehousing technologies. It’s the role of the architect to develop and implement data storage plans that best serve the organization’s needs and future goals. A data warehouse architect’s responsibility is to design metadata for all extract/transform/load (ETL) processes within the firm.
As a data warehouse architect, you get to design database systems required for daily operations and implement improvement features that affect the processes. The role requires a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or computer engineering. You will also need practical experience in software development, database management, or a related position with hands-on experience in data warehousing, such as being a big data engineer. Deep knowledge of data modeling, ETL, OLAP, or SQL will also come in handy when applying for the data warehouse architect role.
Network and computer systems administrators
National median wage: $82,050 (2021)
The role of a network and computer systems administrator is to ensure that all computer systems in an organization are secure and running optimally. The position requires a deep knowledge of computer network fundamentals and troubleshooting skills so as to fix any downtime events as soon as they are detected.
It’s the job of a network and computer systems administrator to install and configure network hardware and software. The maintenance aspect involves setting up firewalls and intrusion detection programs that protect the organization’s networks from unauthorized access. The network administrator also has to solve network connectivity issues, coordinate efforts with the full stack developer, and set up virtual private networks for other employees.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science will come in handy to become a network administrator, although it’s not necessary if you have network administration certifications such as CompTIA Network+ and CCNA. You will need to have knowledge of various types of networks, a deep understanding of network security components, and familiarity with servers.
Cybersecurity analyst
National median wage: $98.350 (2021)
Cybersecurity analysts specialize in network and information technology infrastructure security. It is their job to prevent cyberattacks and malware. These cyber professionals work under the information systems security manager to analyze the behaviors and possible targets of cybercriminals in an organization and recommend cybersecurity fixes that stop the bad actors before they can even access crucial data by coordinating efforts with the data security analyst and big data engineer.
As a cybersecurity analyst, you have to understand the company’s networks, hardware, and software infrastructure to monitor all potential breach points. You will also be responsible for configuring vulnerability management tools, antivirus software, and password protectors. A significant role of a cybersecurity analyst involves reporting unusual network activity and evaluating possible security weaknesses before external threats compromise the network. A bachelor’s degree in computer science or any other related IT course will come in handy when applying for a job as a cybersecurity analyst. Verifiable certifications such as CompTIA will also greatly improve your chances of landing the job.
Web Developers
National median wage: $77,030 (2021)
A web developer builds reliable and efficient websites while also ensuring that they are visually appealing. They also make it easy to navigate the site and optimize various aspects of the website to increase performance and content capacity. Web developers fall into three categories; full stack developer, front end developer, and back end developer.
Webmasters’ main roles include updating websites and maintaining internal and external links as well as web apps to keep them working correctly. When applying for a position in web development, you should be conversant with designing user interfaces, writing code in Javascript, XML, or HTML, and integrating multimedia content onto websites.
While a degree isn’t mandatory when applying for a web developer position, having a bachelor’s degree in computer science will undoubtedly make you more competitive. Technical skills in other programming languages such as Python and Ruby and a deep understanding of technical SEO will come in handy.
Systems Analyst
National median wage: $99,270 (2021)
A computer systems analyst’s position is one of the high paying tech jobs whose central role is ensuring that an organization’s computer technology performs efficiently. The position also requires one to carry out cost-benefit analyses of deploying new hardware and software to determine if it’s financially sound to perform the upgrades.
Computer systems analysts can find technical solutions that align with the company’s long-term goals and perform software quality assurance tests. System analysts must consult with the IT and finance departments to establish a budget that meets the organization’s IT needs and oversee the installation, testing, and training procedures.
To become a systems analyst, you will require a bachelor’s degree in computer science for an entry-level position. Consider applying for a position in a field where you already have proven expertise, as experience is one of the employers’ significant considerations when hiring computer systems analysts.
Computer Support Specialist
National median wage: $57,910 (2021)
Computer support specialists provide technical computer support to the staff and customers of an organization. While support specialist isn’t the highest paying tech job, its an excellent entry-level position for anyone looking to work in the tech industry as an IT specialist. The job involves providing advice and coordinating the troubleshooting efforts to find and fix the problem.
As a computer support specialist, you get to monitor computer systems in a company and assist with minor repairs to hardware and software. Any advanced issues are then escalated to the IT department. Since this position involves firsthand troubleshooting, you will need to be well conversant with the technologies in place and go through product manuals. You will also need technical knowledge on how to set up and update various software packages. Telecommunication skills will come in handy when you have to support remote customers.
The computer support specialist position does not require a specific bachelor’s degree, but having a bachelor’s in IT-related fields will come in handy. Apprenticeship in a technical background increases the chances of landing the job.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which job has the highest salary in the information technology field?
The highest paying job in the technology field is that of a chief information security officer, followed by a software engineering manager.
Which high paying jobs in technology are best for the future?
Some future-proof careers in the tech field include data science, cloud computing, cyber security, blockchain, and software developers.
Which software field pays the best with a bachelor’s degree in computer science?
Managerial positions in the tech field pay the best, followed by engineering and developer positions.
Which companies offer the highest paying tech jobs?
Google, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Intel offer the highest paying tech jobs.
Conclusion
The tech industry is projected to grow by more than 15% between 2021 and 2031 creating around 682,800 new careers. Tech jobs also have a higher annual median wage than other sectors and offer better growth opportunities and perks. Besides the high salaries and benefits, tech jobs also give you the chance to do meaningful work in the fast-evolving tech industry with high demand in case you ever need to shift to a different company. Some high paying jobs in technology don’t require a degree as long as you have proven technical skills and certifications.