According to the 2022-2023 IT Professionals Salary & Career Expectations Report, salary is the top attractive factor that helps attract IT personnel, but is also the biggest reason why IT professionals jump ship. job. So what is the salary in the IT industry in Vietnam in 2022, and what to do if you are being paid below the market?

Good news for Vietnam’s labor market: Average monthly income in the second quarter continued to increase by 3.2% compared to the previous quarter of the same year. This is unusual compared to other years, but is a positive sign confirming economic recovery and growth after the pandemic.

The IT industry is always in the top hot sectors of the labor market with attractive starting salaries and appropriate salary increases. 69.6% of IT professionals mentioned in the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report, the most attractive point of the IT industry is “having a good income”, however 50.5% of IT professionals also think that it comes with That’s the pressure of “many unexpected jobs arising”.

The 2 biggest reasons why IT professionals change jobs are related to salary, specifically “salary lower than expected” (accounting for 23.5%) and “no or few opportunities for salary increases” (accounting for 12.9 %).

That means, receiving a salary commensurate with the volume and nature of the work is an important factor that helps IT professionals stay long-term with the company. If you feel like your current salary is less than you deserve, that’s a red flag.

Whether you’re considering a new job or preparing for a salary review, you need to seriously research the market and salary, which will determine your IT career path.

I. How to determine if you are underpaid?

There is no precise definition for “underpaid.” But if you experience one of the following signs, there is a high possibility that you are receiving an inadequate salary.

• You get paid less than others in the same position, with the same years of experience, and in the same city.
• Your workload and responsibilities have increased, but your salary remains the same.
• Your salary increases but doesn’t keep up with inflation, or the company grows profits over a long period of time, but your salary stays the same.
• You often receive job ads or offers from employers with a better salary. They saw your profile, which means you absolutely qualify for a higher salary.

Ways to determine if you are underpaid:

1. Check with your old boss or former colleagues: Ask your old boss if they were to hire someone in the same position and years of experience as you, what would their proposed salary be? For colleagues, salary is a sensitive issue. Therefore, approach to get information from them carefully, it is best to ask former colleagues who are close and comfortable enough to ask about this issue.
2. Ask questions on job groups: Once you have some salary information from colleagues or former bosses, you can check with a larger group on professional forums or job groups. The advantage of this method is that you have more information to refer to, but you cannot verify the accuracy of that information.
3. To have the most accurate and general perspective, you can refer to the IT industry salary in Vietnam in 2022 for each specific position, through the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report, with participation in answering the survey. survey of 1257 Vietnamese IT experts.

Median salary table of IT positions in 2022

*Information for reference

The table below is excerpted from the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report, summarizing an overview of Vietnam’s IT industry salaries by position, based on the years of experience of 1257 IT professionals participating in the survey.

Median salary by position and years of experience

From the table “Detailed salary by IT position and years of experience” above, we can see:

• IT positions related to Data, AI / Machine Learning, Product Management & Business Analysis, Game often pay higher salaries than other positions with the same number of years of experience.
• The best starting salary (under 1 year of experience) belongs to the positions of Game Developer, Project Manager/Project Leader and Solution Architect, about 19 – 20 million VND/month.
• From 1 – less than 3 years of experience: The highest salaries belong to the positions of DevOps Engineer, Project Manager/Project Leader and Embedded Engineer, ranging from 31 – 37 million VND/month.
• At 5 – 8 years of experience, IT Lead/Manager and DevOps Engineer positions continue to impress with top salaries (42.5 – 61 million VND/month).

Based on the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report, you can determine whether your current salary is too low compared to the salaries of people with the same position and years of experience as you.

If you’re sure you’re being underpaid, your job is to decide what to do next.

II. What to do when you are underpaid?

There are 3 solutions for you when you are experiencing low pay:

Case 1: Talk to your boss immediately about a salary increase

If it’s clear that you’re being paid too little, the most important thing is to prove it to your manager. Try to choose the right “golden” moment when you have just had an excellent project or a great achievement for your team or company.

– You can explain how your workload, skills and experience have increased since you started receiving your current salary.

– You can then show evidence that people like you are being paid higher salaries, based on data from the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report.

Case 2: Increase your value until the next review.

If you feel you are underpaid but the difference is not significant, and there are other factors that make you accept your current salary, take advantage of adding more knowledge and skills to be ready for the next time. Next salary review.

Case 3: Find new job opportunities with higher salaries

If after a few conversations, the company still isn’t willing to give you a raise, maybe it’s time to think about jumping jobs for a higher salary. The truth is that outside IT recruiters are always willing to pay high salaries to pull talent out of the “old place”, while the business that “owns” you will not have such thoughts.

Let’s take a look at these useful tips for your upcoming salary deal!

III. What to prepare for the upcoming salary deal?

1. Determine the minimum wage increase

Each industry will have a different salary increase framework, so you need to know what is a reasonable number for the IT industry.

One quick way to make that decision is to find out: What percentage raise do people in your position expect to get in their next job? This seems like a difficult question to poll colleagues, but luckily Vietnamese IT experts shared it in the 2022-2023 IT Salary Report.

Below are the minimum salary increases that Vietnamese IT professionals (by position) expect to achieve for their next job.

It can be seen that, for the IT industry, the proposed safe salary increase is 20%.

In addition, you can consider the employer’s expectations and other negotiating interests to choose the most suitable number.

3 questions to ask yourself before the salary negotiation session are:

– What is your dream salary for this position?

– Which level makes you happiest?

– What is the minimum you will accept?

Add more skills and certificates:
The IT industry moves very quickly with new technologies constantly emerging. So sometimes a salary increase depends not only on the number of years of experience, but also the skills you know and can use to bring profit to the company.
Therefore, think about learning additional skills or taking certifications before looking for a new job. If you possess the required skills or have high expertise, companies must compete to invite you. This is the basis for you to negotiate a good salary.
Not only does it expand job opportunities, regularly updating new skills also increases your competitiveness with young employees. Nearly 80% of the 1,257 experts participating in the survey were between 25 and 35 years old, showing the abundant young human resources of Vietnam’s IT personnel market.
For senior roles, interpersonal, problem-solving and people management abilities alongside strong technical knowledge are advantages in negotiating higher salaries.

3. Finally, a confident attitude:

After the pandemic, the trend of digital transformation is increasingly strong, promoting rapid growth in the IT industry and creating many career development opportunities for IT professionals.

Businesses are not afraid to launch attractive compensation policies to attract top IT talents. IT professionals are sought after and offered the most flexible working models and benefits.

Therefore, after carefully consulting the market salary, as well as being confident with your own experience and skills, boldly enter the salary negotiation with a confident attitude and clear perspective.

summary

You may feel like you have a pretty high salary, but you also need to remember that high salaries often come with pressure and constant effort to innovate and update. Although IT industry personnel are increasingly competitive, IT talents will always be sought after. Therefore, as an IT professional, you need to determine what your salary and expectations are compared to the general level of the IT labor market, thereby being proactive when deciding on the next stop on the path. your IT career.

Salary can be a sensitive issue, but that doesn’t mean you always have to keep quiet about it. It is your right to be paid fairly for what you do. And don’t worry, there are many IT recruiters out there willing to offer attractive salaries to “quality” IT people like you.

If you have experience or a high-paying deal story, don’t forget to share it with us immediately oDesk.me.