Hong Kong: IT Salary Benchmark 2010
ZDNet Asia conducted an online survey between October 2009 and November 2010, to gain insights into salary trends and the IT workforce in Asia.
The study polled a total of 14,998 respondents from various sectors including government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, and across eight Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
There were 543 respondents from Hong Kong, holding full-time positions with job functions that cut across several areas such as systems development, project management and support.
In addition, 39 respondents from the economy were either contract or independent consultants, while another three held part-time positions, working fewer than 28 hours a week.
Respondents who had various IT-related responsibilities in the legal and finance sector were the highest paid among their peers in Hong Kong, pulling in an average salary of HK$1 million a year.
In the following charts, HK$ denotes the Hong Kong dollar.
Average annual salary by IT skills and years of experience (HK$)
IT Skills | Years of Experience | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Less than 5 years | 5-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| Application Development | 300,388 | 421,429 | 677,853 |
| Web Development | 259,263 | 366,235 | - |
| Desktops/Software | 345,941 | 403,692 | 643,868 |
| Systems Administration | 297,761 | 362,916 | 608,789 |
| Servers/Networking | 286,678 | 378,084 | 630,361 |
| Operating Systems | 258,386 | 381,873 | 613,325 |
| Database Management | 343,000 | - | - |
| Web Services | 298,341 | - | - |
| Enterprise Applications | 345,680 | 403,370 | 707,668 |
| Consulting/Business Services | 338,674 | 429,236 | 715,665 |
| IT Security | - | 407,138 | 692,358 |
| Infrastructure Management | - | 401,329 | 703,127 |
| IT Outsourcing | - | - | 723,776 |
Average annual salary by job function and years of experience (HK$)
Job Function | Years of Experience | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Less than 5 years | 5-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| IT Management | 406,000 | 518,262 | 799,919 |
| Project Management | 340,188 | 441,520 | 631,692 |
| Systems Development | 282,565 | 385,316 | 445,547 |
| Communications | 213,872 | 405,000 | 500,667 |
| Support | 328,733 | 336,952 | 320,333 |
| Administration | 433,001 | 459,291 | 480,441 |
| Other IT Professionals | 271,000 | 388,429 | 691,182 |
| Overall | 321,191 | 423,166 | 659,147 |
Average annual salary of Top 10 most popular IT skills (HK$)
Rank | % of Respondents | IT Skills | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 55.8 | Application Development | 516,909 |
| #2 | 41.5 | System Administration | 463,309 |
| #3 | 39.2 | Servers/Networking | 480,780 |
| #4 | 37.3 | Desktops/Software | 512,420 |
| #5 | 36.5 | Operating Systems | 469,656 |
| #6 | 33.9 | Enterprise Applications | 557,698 |
| #7 | 33.3 | IT Security | 553,023 |
| #8 | 32.7 | Infrastructure Management | 557,830 |
| #9 | 32.7 | Web Development | 467,380 |
| #10 | 31.9 | Consulting/Business Services | 567,261 |
Average annual salary by job function and industry (HK$)
| Job Function | INDUSTRY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IT, Web & Telecom | Government, Education & Health | Legal & Finance | Media, Marketing & Sales (non-IT) | Manufacturing, Services & Others (non-IT) | Overall | |
| IT Management | 741,424 | 629,147 | 786,103 | 693,750 | 701,167 | 721,545 |
| Project Management | 514,383 | 481,221 | 625,615 | 362,000 | 565,000 | 520,490 |
| Systems Development | 316,541 | 347,339 | 575,873 | 219,867 | 284,338 | 356,659 |
| Communications | 402,273 | 201,340 | 598,600 | 320,000 | 280,000 | 389,734 |
| Support | 318,588 | 289,917 | 380,417 | 412,800 | 308,000 | 330,889 |
| Administration | 502,650 | 308,000 | 509,350 | 264,167 | 378,222 | 458,365 |
| Other IT Professionals | 474,550 | 370,000 | 1,000,000 | 560,000 | 349,500 | 480,385 |
| Overall | 477,866 | 437,047 | 624,727 | 450,289 | 484,321 | 496,003 |
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