IT Salary Tracker: Perl professionals

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Perl professionals

For the third installation in our four-week series on open source professionals (see Apache server professionals and Linux professionals, we take a look at Perl jobs. Though it doesn’t command the highest salaries, knowledge of the Perl scripting language–the mortar of countless Web sites–is by far the most sought after open source skill. Our sister site, dice.com, an Internet-based job board for IT professionals, listed 3,365 Perl positions in January 2000. That’s more than three times the number of listings for Apache, Linux, and Sendmail pros added together. Demand for Perl has done nothing but expand, and the outlook for future job growth is very good. Dice.com stats show a 200% increase in Perl jobs nationwide since September 1999. Perl pros in New York are cashing in more than other cities, garnering an average annual salary of $84,000 and a contract wage of $80 an hour. However, Silicon Valley has by far the greatest number of opportunities with 1,115 job postings, almost a third of the Perl listings nationwide. And if you’re wondering about which job titles are especially hot, Web developers and Webmasters are America’s most wanted Perl pros, with 793 availabilities. Software engineers and applications programmers are sizzling, too. Data came from available jobs listed during Jan. 2000 on dice.com. Results are based on averages or totals from the following information on dice.com: salary, job type, job skills, and location.

Highest salary by city (average):
New York, $84,000 yearly salary

Highest hourly contract rate by city (average):
New York, $80 per hour

Region with the most demand:
Silicon Valley, 1,115 available jobs

Job title with the most demand:
Web developer / Webmaster, 793 available jobs

Datamation/dice.com IT Salary Tracker
Perl professionals: salaries by city