UX Professionals Salary Survey

Transcription

1 UX Professionals Salary Survey

2 1 Some Key Findings Salaries in the UX industry depend on many variables, such as the location and size of your company, the industry, your academic background and professional experience. This survey allows you to compare your compensation to industry peers, better understand what drives compensation in this market, and learn how to increase your value. Some of what we learned from this year s survey: Half of the respondents earn between $50-125,000; 20% receive more than $125,000. Salaries in the financial and health fields tend to be higher, and salaries in the transportation and hospitality fields tend to be lower. Salaries tend to be relatively higher in North America, Australia and Central America. The UX US salary average is more than double that of Europe. Salaries are higher in larger companies. It should be noted, however, that salaries in companies of 11 to 50 employees are particularly low, compared to salaries in companies that are even smaller (1 to 10 employees). Salaries tend to be higher in companies with higher revenues. Salaries were particularly low among respondents working in companies that earn less than $10 million. Usability professionals who use Web analytics tools tend to earn relatively high salaries. One exception: Respondents who use Google Analytics tend to earn relatively low salaries. In general, men and women earn comparable salaries. However, the number of men who receive high salaries is relatively larger than the number of women receiving high salaries. There is a correlation between increased salary and age, until the ages of 51 to 55. At this point, salaries begin to drop. In general, individuals with advanced academic education tend to receive higher salaries. The current economic climate seems to have had a mixed impact on the job security and earnings of usability professionals: Approximately two thirds of respondents feel secure in their place of work (64.2%). Employees feel more secure than freelancers and external contract workers. Feelings of job security are highest in Asia (84%), though security is still relatively high in North America (70%), Australia (62%) and Europe (65%). Half of the respondents received an annual bonus.

3 2 Methodology Survey results are based on 543 responses collected from UX professionals worldwide through a standardized questionnaire. Salary figures that appear in this survey reflect annual compensation for each respondent, including bonuses. All survey results are presented in US dollars. About ClickTale ClickTale is the leader in Customer Experience Analytics, the next advance in web analytics, optimizing usability and maximizing conversion rates of any website. Its patented Customer Experience Visualization technology allows ebusinesses to see their customers true-to-life online experience at all levels of detail, from aggregated views to playable videos of users browsing sessions. Unlike traditional analytics platforms that assess page-to-page navigation, ClickTale reveals the customer experience inside the page. ClickTale, an enterprise-class SaaS solution, is fast to deploy and provides immediate ROI. Serving over 2,000 customers worldwide including Fortune 500 ebusinesses, ClickTale is the fastest growing company in its space. To learn more, see: ClickTale Ltd. All rights reserved.

4 3 Who s Working Where? Company and Job Characteristics Company Industry Of the 543 respondents who completed the ClickTale UX Salary Survey, 25% are in the software industry, while 14% are in the communications industry. 33% of those who responded did not specify their industry, or chose Other. Insurance 2% Travel/Hospitality 2% Gaming 3% Healthcare 4% Finance 7% ecommerce 9% Transportation 1% Software 25% Missing 9% Other 24% Communications 14% Company Location Most respondents were either from North America and Europe, in comparable percentages. Australia Asia Africa South America Central America Missing North America Europe

5 4 Company Size (Number of Employees) Survey respondents represent companies of all sizes. About a fifth of respondents work for companies that have between 51 and 200 employees, and a similar number work for companies with over 10,000 employees. 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0%.0% ,000 2,001-10,001 10,000+ Number of Employees Company Revenue Half of the respondents are employed by companies whose profit is less than $100 million USD annually. 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0%.0% <@10M $10-100M $ M $500M-1B $1-5B $5-10B <$10B Missing

6 5 Age, Gender and Education Age Groups Half of the respondents were between 25 and 35 years old. More than 85% of the respondents were between 25 and 45 years old. Missing 1.7% % 1.7% 2.9% 2.8% 6.6% 14.0% 18.0% 20.8% 31.3%.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% Male vs. Female Ratio Close to two thirds of the respondents were men. Male 63% Female 36% missing 1%

7 6 Education Level The vast majority of respondents have an academic degree, with approximately a third having a Bachelors degree and a third having a Masters degree or Ph.D. 35.0% 30.0% 30.0% 33.3% 25.0% 22.7% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 10.1% 5.0% 0.0% 0.6% 12th grade or less 3.3% Graduated high school or equivalent Some college, no degree Associate degree Bachelors degree Post-graduate degree Position at Work The vast majority of respondents (86%) work full-time, though approximately 11% work as freelancers or external consultants. Full-time employee (30 or more hours per week) 86% Other 3% Contractor / Freelance / Solo consultant 11% Student 1% Part-time employee (less than 30 hours per week) 2% Unemployed 0%

8 7 Who s Making What? Salary Makeup and Trends Annual Salary Half of the respondents earn between $50,000 and $125,000 annually. Almost 20% earn over $125,000 annually. $150,000 or more $125,000 to $149, % 9.4% $100,000 to $124, % $75,000 to $99, % $50,000 to $74, % $35,000 to $49, % $25,000 to $34, % Less than $25, %.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% Salary by Industry Overall, the survey indicates that salaries in the financial and health fields tend to be higher. Salaries in the transportation and hospitality fields tend to be lower. $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $-

9 8 Salary by Company Location Salaries tend to be relatively higher in North America and Australia, as well as in Central America. Salaries are relatively low in Europe and Africa. Salaries in North America are more than double that of UX salaries in Europe. $100,000 $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $- $91,900 $89,800 North America Australia $75,000 Central America $50,000 $49,500 South America $43,300 $39,300 Asia Europe Africa Salary by Company Size In general, salaries tend to be higher in larger companies than in smaller companies. It should be noted, however, that salaries in companies of 11 to 50 employees are particularly low, as compared to salaries in even smaller companies (1 to 10 employees). $100,000 $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $- $87,100 $71,300 $75,800 $54,000 $60,000 $58,800 $44, ,000 2,001-10,001 10,000+

10 9 Salary by Company Revenue Salaries tend to be higher in companies that have higher revenues. Salaries were particularly low among respondents working in companies with a profit of less than $10 million. $120,000 $100,000 $80,000 $60,000 $40,000 $20,000 $- <@10M $10-100M $ M $500M-1B $1-5B $5-10B <$10B Salary by Age There is a correlation between increased salary and age, until one reaches the ages of 51 to 55. At this point, salaries begin to drop. Keep in mind that these statistics are probably affected by the low number of survey participants in older age groups. $140,000 $120,000 $123,400 $100,000 $80,000 $77,300 $93,800 $95,100 $94,400 $75,000 $60,000 $57,900 $40,000 $20,000 $28,300 $38,800 $

11 10 Salary by Education In general, individuals with advanced academic education tend to receive higher salaries. $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $58,600 $54,300 $67,600 $75,400 $40,000 $30,000 $32,800 $20,000 $10,000 $- Graduated high school or equivalent Some college, no degree Associate degree Bachelors degree Post-graduate degree Annual Bonuses Almost half of the respondents (45.5%) receive an annual bonus. 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 53.6% 45.5% 10.0%.0% No Yes Missing.9%

12 11 Job Stability and Satisfaction Guaranteed? Job security and sentiment Job Security and Type of Employment The level of job security felt by employees is high sometimes, very high. In contrast, freelancers and external contract workers felt a lower degree of job security. (The number of respondents in other categories was too low to draw statistical conclusions.) Job Security (1=very insecure ; 5=very secure) Student Full-time employee (30 Part-time employee (less or more hours per week) than 30 hours per week) 3.16 Contractor / Freelance / Solo consultant Job Satisfaction Most of the respondents are satisfied with their work (70.4%). Only 10% reported that they were dissatisfied with their work. 60.0% 50.0% 52.5% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 17.9% 17.9% 10.0% 0.0% 8.3% 2.0% 1.5% Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied Missing

13 12 Salary Earnings and Job Satisfaction The salary level of respondents tends to rise as their job satisfaction rises. This can also be interpreted in the opposite manner: Satisfaction rises as salary level rises. Respondents who are highly satisfied tend to have higher salary levels than the respondents with low satisfaction levels. $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $- $74,200 $66,300 $57,200 $58,000 $45,900 Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied Job Security Approximately two thirds of respondents feel secure in their place of work (64.2%), while only 10% do not feel a sense of security. Missing Very secure Secure Neutral Insecure Very Insecure 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% 45.0%

14 13 Job Security by Location Feelings of job security are relatively high in Asia, and are somewhat high in North America, Australia and Europe. (The number of respondents in other locations is too low to draw statistical conclusions.) Central America Africa Asia North America Australia Europe South America Usability Techniques: Is there an advantage? Usability Techniques and Tools Use of usability techniques and tools tends to drop with smaller companies. Among larger companies, the use of satisfaction surveys, usability testing and behavioral analytics tends to increase. Other Satisfaction surveys Usability testing (remote, moderated) Usability testing (in a lab) Behavioral analytics Focus groups Eye tracking Benchmarking or competitive studies User Research (e.g. interviews & Heuristic or expert review Requirements gathering Creating prototypes Personas and user profiles Interface/interaction design Usability testing (informal) Information architecture $174 $173 $155 $139 $135 $101 $98 $97 $96 $87 $266 $243 $225 $224 $340 $336

15 14 Salaries of Respondents Using Web Analytics Salary levels of respondents who use web analytics tools like IBM Unica, comscore Digital Analytix, Webtrends and Adobe SiteCatalyst are high, both relatively and absolutely. In contrast, salaries of respondents who use Google Analytics are relatively low, with an almost 30-25% decrease in annual earnings. $100,000 $80,000 $60,000 $88,900 $85,300 $84,200 $83,000 $72,300 $60,600 $40,000 $20,000 $- IBM Unica comscore Digital Analytix Webtrends Adobe SiteCatalyst Other Google Analytics

16 How to Advance Your Career and Market Value? 15 Based on the information received from our survey responses, here s some advice for advancing your career in the UX industry: 1. Keep up-to-date with new technology page 13 (Usability Techniques and Tools) 2. Use Web Analytics and Behavioral Analytics tools page 14 (Salaries of Respondents Using Web Analytics) 3. Consider furthering your academic education page 6 (Education Level) 4. Be aware that larger companies generally offering better compensation page 8 (Salary by Company Size) 5. Be aware of differences in salaries based on industry, with finance and healthcare in the lead page 7 (Salary by Industry) Satisfaction goes up as salaries increase UX employees working in the insurance industry are the least satisfied with their job Satisfaction increases as job security goes up Satisfaction goes down as the amount of employees in a company increases