Survey Results & Executive Summary

DevOps Salary Survey 2015

Performed by Sponsored by

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what’s inside

DevOps Salary Survey 2015 1

1.1 Overview 3

1.2 Key Insights from this Survey 4

Company & Job Characteristics 6

2.1 General Survey Information 7

2.2 Industry verticals 8

2.3 Size of DevOps Team 9

2.4 Online Assets 10

2.5 Company Revenues 10

2.6 Company Location 11

Gender, Role, Experience, Education 12

3.1 A Real-World Look at DevOps Roles 13

3.2 Professional Experience 15

3.3 Level of Education 16

Salary Components, Trends & Job Stability 17

4.1 Salary Trends 18

4.2 Bonuses 19

4.3 Salary Expectations for 2015 19

4.4 Changing Job Requirements 20

4.5 Job Stability 20

Advancing Career & Market Value 21

5.1 Most Important General Skills 22

5.2 Most Important Technical Skills 23

About Incapsula 24

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1.1 Overview

This comprehensive salary survey for the emerging

DevOps segment was conducted by Incapsula in

December 2014.

Its objective was to examine the experience,

responsibilities, and compensation of individuals

responsible for DevOps activities in a wide range of

organizations.

DevOps is a hot field and there’s no shortage of

opportunities. But that doesn’t mean that every

software developer or IT manager should leave their

current job for a DevOps position.

This survey will help new and more established

DevOps professionals understand the key parameters

affecting today’s salary scales, learn which industries

pay top dollar for DevOps skills, and find out how

your salary compares with similar job titles in other

companies.

Methodology

Survey results are based on 442 responses collected

from worldwide DevOps professionals through a

standardized online questionnaire distributed in

December 2014 by DevOps.com. Salary figures

reflect the total annual compensation for each

respondent, including bonuses.

All survey results are presented in US dollars. Those

respondents paid in other currencies were asked to

convert their salary figures to US dollars according to

the representative exchange rates.

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1.2 Key insights frOm this survey

salaries are higher in north american companies

The median salary of

DevOps professionals

working for North

American companies is

almost 35% higher than

comparable salaries

for companies based in

Asia Pacific and Europe,

respectively.

salaries are highest in military/defense, government, and energy

Median DevOps salaries

are highest at companies

in military/defense,

government, and energy

verticals. The lowest are

for those working in retail,

professional services,

and consumer products

sectors.

the larger the team, the higher the salary

DevOps team size seems

to matter.

devOps is a male-dominated field

Almost 96% of those

choosing to identify their

gender were men.

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1.2 Key insights frOm this survey

The economic climate appears to have a mixed impact on the earnings and

forward-looking expectations of DevOps professionals:

salaries increased in 2014

Over 76% of respondents reported an increase

in 2014 earnings compared to 2013.

increases were more common in asia Pacific and the rest of the world

Substantial increases were more common for

DevOps pros working for companies based

in Asia Pacific (68%) and the rest of the world

(69%) than they were for those employed by

North American (51%) or European (40%)

companies.

almost half of devOps received a bonus in 2014

Almost half of the respondents (48%) received

a bonus in 2014. The average bonus was less

than 10% of total compensation.

most are expecting their salaries to increase in 2015

Looking ahead at 2015, the vast majority (85%)

of respondents are expecting their salaries to

increase.

most are not concerned about job stability

More good news—when asked if they are

concerned about job stability, 61.5% of

respondents indicated that they are not at all

concerned.

Company & Job Characteristics2.1 General Survey Information

2.2 Industry Verticals

2.3 Size of DevOps Team

2.4 Online Assets

2.5 Company Revenues

2.6 Company Location

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annual salary Breakdown

Over $180,000

$160,000 to $180,000

$140,000 to $160,000

$120,000 to $140,000

$100,000 to $120,000

$80,000 to $100,000

$60,000 to $80,000

Less than $60,000 21.7%

17.9%

18.4%

16.9%

11.6%

8.3%

2%

3.3%

2.1

general survey

infOrmatiOn

Based on the survey demographics,

DevOps professionals come in all shapes

and sizes. However, a generalization of our

results reveals the following typical profile:

male, somewhere between the ages of 25

and 44, having a bachelor’s degree with 1

to 6 years’ experience in their current role.

Overall, the median salary for DevOps

professionals is $105,600.

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median salary by industry

Transportation

Retail

Professional Services

Military/Defense

Manufacturing

High Tech

Healthcare

Government

Financial Services

Energy & Utilities

Education

Consumer Products

Communications

Aerospace $108,333

$105,641

$104,137

$106,666

$118,750

$110,476

$123,750

$110,256

$111,617

$110,000

$124,000

$102,222

$100,555

$114,285

2.2

industry verticals

When looking at the industries in which

respondents work, median salaries are the

highest for those working for companies

in the military/defense, government, and

energy verticals. Surprisingly, the high tech

sector was not even in the top three. The

lowest salaries are for those working in the

retail, professional services, and consumer

products sectors.

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2.3

size Of devOps team

More than 69% of respondents work in

organizations employing between 1 to

10 DevOps pros, while over 11% work in

teams numbering between 11 to 50. About

14% reported that their employers do not

have a DevOps team.

Interestingly, it appears that salaries are

directly tied to the size of the DevOps

team. The larger the team, the higher the

salary.

size of devOps team

There is noDevOps team

Over 100

51 to 100

11 to 50

1 to 10 69.3%

10.6%

2.5%

3.3%

14.3%

median salary by team size

No DevOps team

1 to 10

11 to 50

51 to 100

Over 100

$104,210

$104,000

$110,000

$110,000

$129,230

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2.4

Online assets

To understand the scope of online operations for which

DevOps teams are responsible (both internal and customer-

facing), respondents were asked about the type of online

assets their company operates. Some 79% of the teams

operate websites, while 55% also operate Software-as-a-

Service (SaaS) applications.

company Online assets

Social Network

Website

eCommerce

SaaS 55.1%

35.1%

78.7%

17.7%

median salary by company revenues

Less than $1M

$1M to $10M

$11M to $50M

$51M to $100M

$101M to $500M

$500M to $1B

Over $1B

$87,058

$94,520

$103,714

$104,500

$106,956

$111,428

$118,867

2.5

cOmpany revenues

DevOps pros work at companies of all sizes. A total of 26% of

respondents work for companies with annual revenues of less

than $10 million, while another 26% work for those having

revenues exceeding $1 billion dollars.

As expected, salaries steadily increase in proportion to

company revenues.

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2.6

cOmpany lOcatiOn

Some 65% of respondents work for

companies based in North America, while

23% work for European companies.

Twelve percent work for companies based

in other parts of the world.

The median salary of DevOps pros

working for North American companies

is almost 35% higher than comparable

salaries in Asia Pacific and Europe,

respectively.

company location

64.7%

23.1%

6.8%

1.8%

3.6%

median salary by company location

$115,057

$77,142

$85,454

$86,086

$102,500

Gender, Role, Experience, Education3.1 A Real-World Look at DevOps Roles

3.2 Professional Experience

3.3 Level of Education

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3.1

a real-wOrld lOOK at

devOps rOles

Generally speaking, DevOps embodies an

agile approach to software development

that stresses communication,

collaboration, and integration between

software developers and IT operations.

As DevOps is a relatively new field and

means different things to different people,

we thought it would be enlightening to

see how our respondents defined their

own roles within their organization.

When asked to describe their specific

role or function, respondents provided

no less than 26 different job titles. It is

interesting to note that many respondents

with DevOps responsibilities do not have

“DevOps” in their title (e.g., Director of

Infrastructure, Security Engineer).

devOps roles

Director of Operations

Web Developer

Security Engineer

QA Engineer

Platform Engineer

Director of IT

QA Manager

VP Engineering

Back-end Developer

Director of Infrastructure

Security Manager

CTO Director of Security

CIO Systems Analyst

1.3%

1.3%

1.1%

1.1%

0.8%

0.5%

0.5%

0.5%

0.5%

0.3%

0.3%

0.3%

0.3%

DevOps Engineer

System Administrator

System Engineer

Operations Engineer

Infrastructure Engineer

DevOps developer

Software developer

Operations Manager

Director of DevOps

IT Manager

Software Architect

Project Manager

VP DevOps

38.5%

8.3%

7.5%

6.1%

5.1%

4.8%

4.5%

3.7%

3.5%

3.5%

2.1%

1.9%

1.6%

median salary by devOps role

DevOps Developer

DevOps Engineer

Director of DevOps

VP DevOps

$90,000

$101,159

$141,538

$163,333

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The graph on the right depicts the salaries

of all respondents claiming to have some

DevOps responsibilities, regardless

of their title. Comparing these median

salaries to those for “pure” DevOps roles,

we can see that DevOps developers

($90,000) are earning slightly more than

web developers ($88,000) but significantly

less than back end developers ($110,000).

DevOps engineers ($101,159) report

salaries higher than the average salaries

of other engineering positions , while

DevOps directors ($141, 538) earn

less than operations ($152,000) and IT

director ($170,000) positions.

median salary by Job title

Project Manager

System Administrator

Web Developer

Platform Engineer

Security Engineer

Operations Engineer

Infrastructure Engineer

Back-End Developer

Director of Infrastructure

Software Architect

Operations Manager

Security Manager

Director of Operations

Director of IT

$76,666

$86,000

$88,000

$90,000

$90,000

$90,000

$108,421

$110,000

$110,000

$117,500

$128,571

$130,000

$152,000

$170,000

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3.2

prOfessiOnal experience

As in other fields, DevOps job experience

plays a role in determining salary levels.

The median salary for respondents with

more than 10 years’ experience is 33%

higher than for those with 1 to 6 years’

experience.

Almost 96% of respondents who chose

to identify their gender were men, which

in and of itself says something about the

DevOps field. However, given such a

sampling, it is problematic to use gender

as a gauge for salary differences (as can be

seen in the chart below).

median salary by gender and experience

Less than1 year

1 to 6years

7 to 10years

MALE

FEMALE

$91,304

$65,000

$101,698

$111,111

$109,047

<$60,000

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

More than10 years

$135,087

$150,000

MALE

FEMALE

median salary by professional experience

Less than 1 year

1 to 6 years

7 to 10 years

10 or more years

$91,304

$101,698

$109,047

$135,087

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3.3

level Of educatiOn

Over half (52%) of respondents have a

bachelor’s degree, while 25% have earned

their master’s degree.

Based on survey results, it does not seem

that education level is a determining factor

regarding DevOps salaries. In some cases,

professionals with high school diplomas

are earning salaries comparable to those

with master’s degrees.

median salary by level of education

High School

Associates / Some College / Cert.—Voc.

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

Ph.D.

Other

$106,734

$90,000

$105,544

$105,000

$110,000

$90,000

Salary Components, Trends & Job Stability4.1 Salary Trends

4.2 Bonuses

4.3 Salary Expectations for 2015

4.4 Changing Job Requirements

4.5 Job Stability

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4.1

salary trends

About 76% of respondents reported

a salary increase in 2014 compared to

2013, while 22% reported no change.

Less than 2% reported a decrease.

While three-quarters of all

respondents received a salary increase

in 2014, certain DevOps roles stood

out in relation to above-average

increases. These included operations

managers (36%), operations engineers

(32%), and system engineers (32%).

Roles with prominent salary decreases

were software architect (13%) and

infrastructure engineer (11%).

salary change from 2013 to 2014

Increased by more than 10%

Increased by 5 to 10%

Increased less than 5%

Stayed the same

Decreased

27.9%

22.6%

25.9%

22.1%

1.5%

change in salary in 2014 by company location

Europe

NorthAmerica

Rest ofthe world

Higher

Same

Lower

94%

6%

0%

80%

20%

0%

73%

18%

9%

63%

33%

3%

Higher

Same

Lower

Higher

Same

Lower

Higher

Same

Lower

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4.2

BOnuses

Almost half of the respondents (48%) received a bonus in

2014. While a lucky 8% received bonuses exceeding 20% of

their annual salary, most bonuses (43% of those who received

one) fell in the 5 to 10% range.

Bonus as percent of total compensation

Less than 5%

5 to 10%

11 to 20%

More than 20%

28.1%

42.7%

21.1%

8.1%

anticipated change in salary in 2015

Increase by more than 10%

Increase by 5 to 10%

Increase less than 5%

Stay the same

Decrease

28.1%

42.7%

21.1%

8.1%

23.3%

33.3%

28.5%

14.4%

5%

4.3

salary expectatiOns fOr 2015

Perhaps due to the uncertain economic outlook for the

remainder of this year, DevOps pros were slightly less optimistic

about salary raises in 2015. One-third of the respondents

anticipate a modest increase of between 5 to 10%.

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4.4

changing JOB requirements

When asked how their job requirements and/or work

environment have changed over the past year, the majority

(5%) cited that they have more responsibilities. Another

common response was more freedom (13%), while 12%

reported no change in their job requirements.

changes in Job requirements in 2014

More responsibilities

Less budget

More budget

Longer hours

More freedom

More competition

Tighter supervision

No change

28.1%

42.7%

21.1%

8.1%

55.1%

4.4%

3.6%

4.9%

13.3%

2.6%

3.8%

12.3%

concern about Job stability

Very concerned

Somewhat concerned

Not concerned at all

11.8%

26.6%

61.5%

4.5

JOB staBility

There is good news here. Approximately 62% of respondents

reported that they have no concerns about their job stability,

while less than 12% claimed they were very concerned.

Advancing Career & Market Value5.1 Most Important General Skills

5.2 Most Important Technical Skills

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5.1

mOst impOrtant general

sKills

Survey respondents have some insightful

advice for advancing your DevOps career:

• Understand the business side

• Develop your communication skills

• Keep up to date with new technology

• Be flexible and open to change

According to respondents, the general

skills most important for securing higher

pay and additional job options are

operational (51%), communication (49%),

and analytical (38%) skills.

most important general skills

32.4%

50.8%

38.2%

49.5%

23.4%

33.5%

8.8%

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5.2

mOst impOrtant technical

sKills

According to respondents, the most

valuable technology skills are cloud

deployment and virtualization (31%),

programming and systems architecture

(27%), and configuration management

(22%).

most important technical skills

8.5%

26.6%

2.5%

30.8%

1.9%

21.7%

1.6%

4.7%

1.6%

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