IT Professionals have approached me to say they feel unhappy with their compensation. And some executives ask how much is enough pay. There are ways to know…

Websites such as Pay Scale dot com, Career Builder dot com, and Salary Expert dot com provide estimated pay ranges based on location and skills.

Executives: Quality IT Professionals are really difficult to find these days. So you don’t want to lose the ones you have. HR specialists have said that money is not the primary motivation for someone to keep their job, as long as the compensation meets a minimum. Your IT Professionals are likely very loyal to you and will invest a great amount of energy to help you. Just know that they may be receiving job offers from others.

IT Professionals: Keep up with certifications – those new skills will help your organization too. You enjoy learning or you’d never have selected an IT career anyway. One source of training and certifications is CompTIA dot org. They offer hardware, networking, security project management, and other certifications referred to with names such as A+ Computer Technician, Network+, Security+, etc. Talk to your employer about ways you can become more valuable to them. Some of you are very good about putting the needs of the organization that you serve, before your own needs. Be careful. If you give too much, and feel undercompensated, the resulting unhappiness can be bad for you and the organization too.

The difficulty executives face is not realizing how much a dedicated IT Pro does. When an IT Professional performs a miracle by breathing life back into a crashed server, it is sometimes difficult for non-IT Professionals to appreciate the level of accomplishment. What IT calls a miracle, executives consider the accomplishment as being part of their job description. They have no idea what is, and is not, involved.

Executives, I’m not saying that every IT Professional needs a pay raise. If you are unhappy with your IT Pro, you may be looking forward to when another company hires them away. In fact, if you aren’t happy with their performance, there is no reason to keep them around. They do, as many executives have said, hold the keys to your kingdom. Or, as I like to say it, they have their fingers on the jugular vein of your company. Do not let them hold you hostage with that power, and don’t be worried about kicking them out if you need to.

But if your IT Professional is someone who you like, and appreciate, and you can see that they are good at what they do, keep in mind that good IT Professionals are a hot commodity these days.

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