WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A new survey of IT professionals reveals that those with a master of business administration degree earn nearly half again as much as those with no advanced degree and also do better than those who completed other master’s programs.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business analyzed data from 50,000 information technology professionals, and concluded that an MBA degree increases an IT professional’s salary by 46 percent compared with just a bachelor’s degree, and 37 percent compared with other master’s degrees. The data, dealing with salaries from 1999 to 2002, show that in 1999 dollars, the difference amounts to $24,000 and $17,000, respectively.

There are “much larger returns on education than experience” in this field, said Sunil Mithas, Smith assistant professor and lead author of the study. Technical skills, he explained, “become obsolete,” while the concepts learned in the classroom last longer.

The peer-reviewed study will be published this month in the journal Management Science.

What may be true in the IT sector, however, is not necessarily true in other industries, say experts who assert that the value of an MBA depends on the type of work.

“Companies and the federal government look for years of experience before a degree,” said George Newstrom, president and chief operating officer of Fairfax-based Lee Technologies.

Newstrom, the former secretary of technology for the commonwealth of Virginia, noted that when he was hiring a large number of IT employees for EDS, the “skill sets we needed” were focused on the “technical component,” not those acquired at business schools.

On the other hand, he added, if “you’re in a consulting-type enterprise, having a higher-level degree is something that is desired,” because a company can charge more for services provided by their employees with advanced degrees.

The Washington metro area has the highest percentage of advanced degrees in the nation with Arlington County topping the list and Montgomery County, Alexandria, Fairfax County and the District of Columbia ranking in the top 15, according to the Greater Washington Initiative, relying on U.S. Census Bureau data.

In the midst of an economic slowdown, in the Washington-Baltimore region, the average IT salary jumped 2.3 percent in 2007, from $79,911 in 2006 to $81,750 in 2007, according to a salary survey conducted by online technology job search company Dice.

With virtual full employment and the federal government as a customer, the metro area “still has a lot of growth” in the IT sector, Newstrom said.

wblake@dcexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

11:04 PM MST on Mon., Apr. 14, 2008 re: "Brisbane to gauge baylands wind flow"

Examiner Reader said:
Wind turbines certainly generate clean energy (preferrable), but I wish leaders would allocate some of their design engineers to study how to protect the wildlife (birds) fatalities. It seems easy enough to place a cage around the turbines, just like the smaller, domestic models that protect children from getting their fingers clipped by the fan blades. I'm sure there's a way to make this look attractive in a super-size turbine.

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11:46 AM MST on Thu., Apr. 10, 2008 re: "Defense, technology firms� needs make Baltimore the place to be for IT positions"

Examiner Reader said:
The Dice Report. �Baltimore-Washington has the third-highest average salary for IT professionals at $81,750 a year, ahead of the national average of $74,570.� WOW and yet the jobs which I applied for are paying way below the average. Usually a company asked what salary range I'm looking for, and usually that's a sign of we can't afford you. I answered negotiable, they pursuit for a number. When I give them a number I don't hear from them. Most of the positions I come across are bombarded with responsibilities and has a failure of matching the pay.

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11:07 AM MST on Mon., Mar. 24, 2008 re: "U.Md. study shows MBAs lead to higher salaries in IT sector"

Terence said:
What the article failed to address is that if you have an a non-business major and have an engineering or computer science degree, it is advisable to pursue an MBA degree and as such you would tend to pursue something like an IT degree and in that case, the jump in salary is significant. If you have a business undergrad in IT and pursue an MBA, that jump is significantly less. I still do not understand why students would do both an undergrad and grad in business. Really the textbooks are almost the same, the delivery is the difference. In some cases, classes are cross-taught at both the undergrad and grad. Pursuing a masters of science in marketing, operations and IT is the appropriate route not an MBA for undegrad in business. Just IMHO

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7:34 AM MST on Thu., Mar. 13, 2008 re: "Businesses, educators agree they must unite to address tech job shortage"

Iconic Xer. said:
I find this story missing a critical and informative element. Sure, tech companies and institutions such as NASA may be losing *employees* to retirement. But that doesn't mean there aren't *lots* of tech professionals around. Quite the opposite. There's an abundance of them. Companies have got to change their cultures, compensation and engagement of workers to be in alignment with the preference of many tech professionals to work outside of organizations, to work for multiple companies, to be flexible, nimble and not dependent on one industry or company for survival. It's a generational thing, really, with your GenXers (27-47 in 2008) heavily leaning in this direction. Re: the lack of kids entering STEM. It has nothing to do with them not wanting to be cool. They are achievement, affluence and team-oriented. Sing their song and they'll come in droves. Sing *your* song & they won't hear you ... or even bother trying. And, mistakenly, you'll conclude they're not interested. What

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10:17 AM MST on Fri., May. 11, 2007 re: "Schools to lease land for phone towers"

Examiner Reader said:
Possible health risk of cancer too! See international studies.

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9:26 AM MST on Fri., May. 11, 2007 re: "Schools to lease land for phone towers"

Examiner Reader said:
You can't stop it now and usually there is a reason its done that way

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