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(I've been wondering all day whether to ask this question here - my biggest concern would be that it would be seen as off-topic, or not relevant. It's not relevant to the US, this is true, but it is VERY relevant the UK market.)

My question is: do hiring managers / IT decision makers in the UK use data from ITJobsWatch in their decision making process, how valid is the data and how accurate do you perceive it to be. (as a secondary, more worldwide question: do people use salary aggregation sites in their decision making/negotiation process)

A couple of disclaimers! I don't work for them, I have nothing to do with them. I invite (genuine) comments from representatives of the site about how they collect the data (I've read the small paragraph on their website already). I also wouldn't consider that I'm pimping the site here - I imagine any UK hiring manager worth his stuff will already know about it!

I've been asked whether the data on the site is valid and relevant, and I'm curious as to the response from the UK market.

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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

I have worked in the UK in the IT market for about 12 years, plus I've been in positions where I was involved in hiring. I've never heard of anybody using the table you linked to as a reference for setting the salary levels - IME in larger companies, the salary ranges were pulled out of a hat by HR (who might or might not have looked at this table) and then the salary was often correlated with the candidate's previous salary.

The table you have linked to doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, from what I've seen in the UK I'm getting the impression just correlating buzzwords with advertised salaries in various job ads. The one part that has a really big impact on salaries is experience - for example, the salary listed under "Finance" isn't something I'd consider working for, but if it's an average from grad salaries to experienced people like myself, it's probably a reasonable number. But as a benchmark as how you or I should be paid, I'd call it useless.

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Understood, and thank you for your response. That makes sense, and I think I was trying to use the various tag words (Senior, Lead, etc) to peg the rates to experience. You're right though, it's probably too clumsy. –  Tom Morgan May 31 '11 at 6:25
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the answer is yes it is used and yes it is useful. It gives an accurate reflection of how salaies for certain roles are 'trending'. If it 'doesn't make a lot of sense to you' then the site isn't going to be useful, but without being too harsh it seems that that's more a reflection of your lack of understanding that anything else. If you can understand it, then it's useful. The fact is, this table, with info about RECENT salaries, is a more accurate marker of salaries that someones previous salary, which in the fluctuating climate is not particularly useful as a barometer.

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Not sure why this has already received a -1, but Welcome, Chris... and I agree with your assessment, although it is only one such survey –  Andrew Oct 4 '12 at 8:29
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