How much do IT employees earn within 5 years: An analysis

Data from the jobs portal Monster.com (September 2021-22) suggests software engineers are the highest-paid recruits with freshers taking home an average maximum salary of Rs.5 lakh per year. (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

With more than 930,000 students enrolling in computer science in the academic year 2020, information technology (IT) jobs are among the top favourites of young people in India.

Data from the jobs portal Monster.com (September 2021-22) suggests software engineers are the highest-paid recruits with freshers taking home an average maximum salary of Rs.5 lakh per year.

Other than high salary and perks, industry experts say the challenges and the competitive edge it offers makes a career in IT even more lucrative. So the IT sector offers many fascinating options.

Akhil Gupta, CEO of job portal Shine.com, observes that technology careers are available in a variety of contexts, including fast-growing startups, cutting-edge IT firms, and small IT departments.

“Here, data scientist is the most trending profile,” he said.

If Gupta look at the current scenario in the IT industry, the top roles that he can identify for a candidate with experience within five years would be: product manager, data scientist/engineer, big data engineer, software architect, DevOps/cloud engineer, full-stack developer, frontend developer, backend developer, mobile app developer, and software developer, senior software developer and dead developer.

But what is the most lucrative job role for young software engineers in the IT sector? Moneycontrol dives deep into different job roles an IT professional can have within five years of his/her career and how they fare in average salary across sectors.

Product managers

Responsible for the strategy and blueprint of a product(s) of the company, Moneycontrol analysis of per jobs site Glassdoor data shows Product Managers with 5 years of experience earn an average salary of Rs. 15 lakh per annum in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai).

Bangalore is leading with an average pay of Rs. 20 lakh per annum, as per Glassdoor.

Data Scientist/Engineer

Data Scientists develop data-driven solutions to solve challenges. These techies secure an average salary of 9.65 LPA across major IT hubs in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

Data Analysts

Data analysts assess a company’s complex information including sales numbers, market research and so on to derive easy-to-read conclusions. According to Rajul Mathur, consulting leader, India, Work and Rewards, WTW, an insurance, advisory consulting firm, a data analyst with over four years of experience can earn Rs. 11.34 lakh per annum.

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“Further, individual capability, organisation requirement and market factors govern the pace of growth as well,” he adds.

Big Data Engineer

Working closely with data scientists, big data engineers transform complex data into an easy and analyzable format. Such experts have an average salary of around Rs. 9 akh per annum in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

Software Architect

Working with a team of software engineers, software architects make executive software design decisions. These architects earn an average salary of Rs. 20.30 lakh per annum with Bangalore and Hyderabad leading with an average salary of Rs. 30 lakh per annum.

Cloud Engineer

Cloud engineers create, test, and implement software applications for companies and other organisations, as per Glassdoor. They secure an average salary of Rs. 6.18 lakh per annum (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

Full-Stack Developer

Indeed defines full stack developers as experts who develop and deploy the front end and back end elements of a website, web application or computer program. They earn an average salary of around Rs. 6.50 lakh per annum in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

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Frontend Developer

Frontend Developer develops websites and applications using various tools and technologies. The website architects report an average salary of Rs. 5.76 lakh per annum(Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

Backend Developer

Back-end developers build and maintain the mechanisms that process data and perform actions on websites. They earn around Rs. 7 lakh per annum average salary in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi).

Mobile App Developer

Mobile engineers are responsible for designing, developing, and implementing software programs for mobile devices and earn an average salary of 5.46 LPA in India (New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad).

Software Developer

Software developers design and build computer programmes for mobile, desktop applications etc. They have an average salary of Rs. 6.6 lakh per annum in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi).

In a nutshell

[NOTE: Figures for average salary belong to Glassdoor except for Data Analysts. They were accessed through a Login ID and password provided by the Glassdoor team and then the average salaries were calculated for six major IT hubs in India – Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Mumbai (for which data was available).]