According to a salary survey by Computerworld, entry level programmers should be making US$ 65,000 a year. That’s approximately PhP 3.5 million annually or PhP 300,000 per month.
Contractors/consultants on average get about US$ 85,000 a year or PhP 4.68 million annually or about PHP 400,000 per month.
Now compare that with compensation rates for IT-related jobs here in the Philippines, and you can stop wondering about the rising trend in offshored operations.
Even technicians get US$ 50,000 a year in the US. Do the math. That’s 15 to 20 times the average salary (at the higher end) of technicians here in Manila.
Of course, there’s the issue of quality. But the very nature of information and communications technology levels the playing field. In terms of technical skills, tech workers in developing countries are as good as their counterparts in the developed world (or even better?).
There’s a pretty interesting discussion over at DIGG (where the story is quite hot)–people are discussing tech qualifications like certifications and experience, particularly on which has more weight when it comes to the compensation game.