Salary Survey 2003: Editor's Letter

Admittedly, that doesn't have the same ring as the famous advice newspaperman Horace Greeley handed out to the young men of his day. But then, we didn't set out to create poetry,or promote a manifest destiny,with the 2003 CRN Salary Survey.

Rather, over the five years since we began gathering information on solution provider compensation, our mission has been to provide useful, detailed information to our readers about salary trends.

The compensation data presented in this report and in more detail online, where you will find our interactive database and the CRN salary calculator, is designed to help solution providers determine how much they should pay and be paid.

The three stories that follow also highlight the most interesting compensation trends. As our lead story notes, compensation failed to keep pace with inflation for the first time in five years. Sales personnel were the hardest hit, as commissions and bonus pay diminished. No surprise there. But solution providers also anticipate general sales will be where much of the job growth is in the coming year, particularly as the economy picks up. Others likely to be in demand include software engineers and customer and technical services support personnel.

Our second story details which certifications are commanding the highest pay and best raises. Certifications are becoming increasingly important, and technicians that hold multiple certifications are definitely commanding a premium in the market.

And our third story looks at regional compensation trends. If you're planning on packing your bags and heading west, you might want to rethink Mr. Greeley's advice. Compensation is rising much faster in the Upper Midwest, followed by the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.