Show Me The Money! Data Analytics Salaries Are On The Up

With the increasing numbers of companies recognising the significance of utilising big data as an integral part of their business, there is a strong and rising demand for data analytics skills. Not only is this pushing up wages for qualified professionals but it is also turning big data into a big pay for data analysts or data scientists.

"It is one of the [most] sought-after positions," said Rob Bearden, CEO of Hortonworks. "The desire on the enterprise side to find truly qualified data scientists has resulted in almost open headcount. It's probably the biggest imbalance of supply and demand that I've ever seen in my career. ... The talent pool is, at best, probably 20 percent of the demand."

It is also evident in Australia, found in the inaugural 2013 Skills and Salary Survey Report published by the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA), showing that the median salary for an analytics professional was almost twice the median Australian full-time salary. Respondents in the workforce for up to 3 years and now working in analytics had a median salary of $72 - $75K while those working for 14 to 16 years had a median salary of $152 - $194K. (Variations are based on whether analysts are in industry or the supply side).

The rising demand for analytics professionals was also reflected in IAPA’s membership, which has grown to more than 3,500 members in Australia since its formation in 2006.

Furthermore, a poll conducted amongst 500 participants in your industry by KDnuggets in 2015 found that US, Canada, and Australian analytics professionals are paid the most. Take a look at the graph below to view the average salary for each role in different countries:

There is an ocean of opportunities for Big Data Analytics professionals like yourself as many companies are prepared to invest the time and money for training and recruitment. And it is evident that the salary growth in this field is fairly steep because of such demand for experience professionals in a growing environment.

So how will salaries in Analytics be in 5 years?

According to Gaurav Vohra, Analytics Specialist, dependence of business on data savvy professionals is expected to continue to sky rocket in the coming years. ‘There is a shift in demand from pure statistical talent to professionals who can apply analytics in the context of a business problem and thus a shift from statisticians and mathematicians to data savvy professionals who also understand the business.’

He predicts that:

• The starting salaries in analytics are expected to grow at 10 to 20% per annum at least for the next 5 years. • Professionals in the analytics industry can expect annual pay hikes of about 15% every year. • Promotions in analytics tend to be largely merit-driven. • Average time to promotion is 18 to 24 months at the lower levels and 2 to 5 years as you move up the hierarchy.