Want higher pay? Get some DevOps skills

DevOps skills are increasingly sought after and as a result salaries for DevOps engineers are higher than for other IT job titles according to new research.

IT automation software provider PuppetLabs has released its 2015 DevOps Salary Report based on data gathered from its 2015 State of DevOps Report.

Among the findings are that DevOps engineers make noticeably higher salaries than most other practitioner job titles in the 2015 survey and report. 55 percent of US DevOps engineers make $100,000 per year or more; this share is surpassed only by architects (with 75 percent making $100,000-plus), a group that includes the distinct job titles of architects, cloud or infrastructure architects, and systems architects.

Where managers in the rest of the world typically make at least one salary increment more than practitioners, most managers in the US make at least two salary increments more. The report also shows that in the US you're more likely to make a better salary if you are a tech practitioner in technology, web software or education.

These salaries come at the expense of long hours, however. Seventy-one percent of practitioners report working 40 or more hours per week. Most respondents (52 percent) reported working 41-50 hours per week. More DevOps engineers reported working in excess of 50 hours per week than any other job title. More systems engineers reported working 41-50 hours per week, and more system administrators reported working 40 or fewer hours per week.

There's a gender divide too. Most surveyed women reported making $50,000 to $100,000 (59 percent of women, compared to 47 percent of men), while more men reported making $100,000 or more (47 percent of men, compared to 36 percent of women).

"The 2015 State of DevOps Report showed that high-performing IT organizations are more agile, more reliable, and ultimately drive real business value," says Nigel Kersten, CIO at Puppet Labs. "Now that organizations are learning of the benefits of DevOps, we're seeing additional salary data that reveals just how much demand there is around the world for highly qualified IT and DevOps practitioners. It's encouraging to see these positions continue to grow, and we look forward to watching the market evolve and adapt to the growing urgency around making IT a competitive advantage".

You can see more detail on the results in the infographic below or on the PuppetLabs blog.

Photo Credit: Pavel L Photo and Video / Shutterstock