Last week, one of Zimbabwe’s largest employment agencies, CV People, posted the results of a salary survey on its website. The reports can be downloaded are here. Reading the ICT Jobs report, there’s really not much surprise in terms of remuneration for techies and techie managers. If you’re in Zimbabwe, the figures are just what you see and hear around everyday. Average salaries of about US $700 for shop floor technical jobs and average around US $1,300 for managers.
More interesting is percentage of women in the ICT profession. The number is a lot smaller than I thought. Look at these few examples: only 5% of network administrators are women; 5% of Telecoms technicians are women; 17% of IT managers are women; Systems engineers, Computer technicians, IT Support officers, Web developers, IT consultants al have less than 20% women.
The only position with a significant women percentage is the Systems/Business analyst with 36% percent. IT Audit Managers, Systems administrators and Developers also have a bit more women than the other positions; 27%, 25% and 23% respectively.
And just so you view this data in the correct context; this information was extracted from data submitted by job seekers to the CV People database. It’s hardly an exact reflection of the profession; but it does give a pretty good idea of what’s out there.
Below is summary of the data. We just picked out the most interesting information. The full data is available on the CV People website. The full analysis comes complete with scatter diagrams, pie-charts, histograms and such. And if statistics are not your strong point, there’s an explanation of the statistical terms used in the survey report.
| Position | Minimum
(US $) |
Maximum (US $) | Average (US $) | Mode | Male % | Female % |
| IT Graduate Trainee | 100 | 960 | 383 | 200 | 75 | 25 |
| IT Lecturer/Trainer | 100 | 1,600 | 420 | 200 | 81 | 19 |
| Computer Technician | 100 | 3,000 | 554 | 300 | 89 | 11 |
| IT Support officer | 200 | 2,500 | 684 | 300 | 82 | 18 |
| IT Administrator | 100 | 2,500 | 590 | 400 | 85 | 15 |
| Network administrator | 100 | 2,500 | 713 | 800 | 95 | 5 |
| IT Systems Administrator | 200 | 2,100 | 818 | 500 | 75 | 25 |
| Systems/Business Analyst | 165 | 2,000 | 789 | 500 | 64 | 36 |
| Systems Developer | 150 | 5,000 | 841 | 800 | 77 | 23 |
| Systems Engineer | 152 | 1,800 | 936 | 700 | 86 | 14 |
| IT Aduitor/Audit Manager | 447 | 2,000 | 1,117 | 500 | 73 | 27 |
| IT Manager | 150 | 3,500 | 1,104 | 800 | 83 | 17 |
| IT Consultant | 150 | 3,500 | 1,249 | 800 | 93 | 7 |
| Web Developer | 100 | 1,500 | 620 | 300 | 87 | 13 |
| Telecommunications Technician | 250 | 3,500 | 1,332 | 400 | 95 | 5 |
We would love to know your opinion on this. Why do women prefer to be IT Auditors, Systems developers and Business analysts? Is it these are ‘smarter’ tech jobs, away from the screw drivers and network cables in the server rooms? Are men naturals with the hands on server room stuff?
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14 comments
Tried to download the Information Technology / Telecommunications pdf the file is corrupt…
thanks! thought it was me only…
Its that simple, network/server jobs are very physical, and though this tends to happen whilst installing rather than maintaining (the bulk of the work), part of a good training exposes one to the physical aspects ie crimping, drilling, trunking – that stuff is nasty, and is a “don’t go there” warning particularly if you have cutex on your nails. Development/Consultancy/Analysis almost never have a physical side.
Nice picture of the 1841, that is a classic ISR!!
The Cisco ISR is the first l noticed on that story, its one of the MUST have routers if you want to know Cisco
Or GNS3!!! LOL… Studying for CNNP actually haven’t spent too much time on Cisco gear. But yeah, the ISR a MUST have…
GNS3 is the big boy of emulators (its not a simulator) especially if you can get the 7200 IOS, its limits are only on switching.
I think it’s actually these kind of attitudes, rather than the work itself, that put women off working in these areas of tech. There’s no reason to think that women can’t (or won’t) do drilling and trunking but a lot of men (and some women) believe this to be the case so they discourage (implicitly if not explicitly) women from applying/training for these kind of positions. Zimbabwean tech could do with a bigger pool of talent to pick from so it’s worth considering how more women can be attracted into all fields of IT.
I managed to download and open the Information Technology / Telecommunications pdf, i guess you may need to update your adobe reader to version 9 or better
I’m on Adobe Reader X… that is the latest, I’ll try download the document again
I have been around the ICT industry a while now. I have come across women professionals but very few are worth their salt. I wouldnt want to believe its to do with physiology or aptitude, but really it is the attitude shown by some that is appalling. they do not want to learn, so they cant work and all they do is spend time on facebook and on skype. Some have the temerity to actually do long voice calls talkig gossip. given that most places now have open setups it really sucks to have someone next to you who does no work and actually gets into the way
women like gossiping and texting, l work with some who just want to go round offices looking for gossip
Your statement should read very few of the few that I have met are worth their salt. Let’s not paint everyone with the same brush. I know and have worked with A LOT of women who are very good in their work and some men who are only good at cheap talk and carrying equipment, in IT.
Sloth is an undesirable characteristic in both men and women, attributing it to one gender is pure malice.