Are IT professionals in Asia paid their worth?

ZDNet Asia conducted a survey on the Internet between Aug. 25 and Nov. 6, 2006, to gain insights into Asia's IT workforce and salary trends. The survey drew 5,090 respondents from industry sectors such as government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, across seven Asian countries: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Among the findings: IT management skills are much-sought-after and command the highest renumeration, while the best-paying IT jobs are in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore.

With the ambitious plan to become the IT hub of Southeast Asia by 2008, Thailand has been ramping up efforts in software development--currently the fastest growing IT segment in the country. Indeed, ZDNet Asia's IT salary survey revealed that a majority of respondents (58 percent) are experienced in application development.

Industry observers, however, note that Thailand will need to confront several challenges before its goal can materialize. Apart from language barriers and infrastructure deficiency, experts have pointed out a more serious problem--the lack of skilled IT manpower.

Dion Wiggins, director of strategic development at Bangkok-based technology consultancy Strat-etech Consulting, said: "The lack of available skills is the single biggest impediment to the growth of the ICT industry in Thailand."

He told ZDNet Asia: "All IT related skills are on the critical list and holding back development and growth. A lack of focus from government and poor IT curriculum in the education sector mean that IT graduates are not well-trained in the skills that businesses require and need to be trained further before they are of use."

According to ZDNet Asia's IT salary survey, IT management jobs are the highest paid. The average annual salary for IT Management is THB 1,423,448 (US$38,721), 43 percent higher than the overall country average of THB 994,203 (US$27,044).

The second highest-paid group is Project Development, where the average annual salary is THB 1,268,867 (US$34,516).

Across industry verticals, IT professionals are better paid in the Legal and Finance sector, a trend that is also seen among respondents in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. Respondents in the IT, Web and Telecoms sectors command the second highest salaries compared with other verticals.

Years of experience matter, too. Thai IT professionals with more experience command salary premiums. The average annual salary of respondents with more than 10 years' experience is THB 1,571,384 (US$19,879), 58 percent higher than the overall country average.

The average annual salary for respondents with less than five years' work experience is THB 351,186 (US$9,553) compared with the average of THB 797,811 (US$21,702) for those with between five and 10 years' experience.

However, Wiggins said that the limited supply of good people with the right skills is not enough to meet the needs of Thailand's domestic IT market. This means local IT companies aiming to expand their footprint in global markets will face an even greater challenge.

"This can be addressed to some degree by working with the leading vendors that offer education initiatives and by streamlining the process and making it more attractive to bring in international ICT talent," he added.

According to a research note by ICT Forward, a Bangkok-based technology think tank, no more than 5,000 Thai IT professionals are engaged in intellectual property production areas such as software programming and digital content creation.

ICT Forward acknowledged that the total manpower employed within the Thai ICT sector "is many times higher than that", but noted that excluding those engaged in assembly at electronics manufacturing plants, and others involved in selling overseas products into the Thai domestic market, or who work inside large companies, "the creative pool that is left is very small".

The think tank estimates that less than 1 percent of the total number of IT professionals employed in Thailand are actually producing high value-added, exportable intellectual property. A large portion of what is produced is limited to the game and entertainment portion of technology.

Key findings of ZDNet Asia's IT Salary Benchmark 2006 Survey
To gain insights into Asia's IT workforce and salary trends, ZDNet Asia conducted a survey on the Internet between Aug. 25 and Nov. 6, 2006. The survey drew 5,090 respondents from industry sectors such as government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, across seven Asian countries: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Spotlight: Thailand
The survey drew 149 respondents across several IT positions, which are broadly categorized into IT management, project development and systems development.

Average annual IT salary in Thailand

Type of Experience

Top 5 Certifications
(36% of respondents hold at least 1 certification)