It pays to be a database administrator, according to Dr. Dobb’s 2012 Salary Survey. Business analysts, programmers/analysts, and systems analysts are also being paid more, on average, and they were two years ago. Dealing with data, in other words, can translate into a hefty base salary. Database administrators made an average of $91,000 in 2012, up from $87,000 in 2010; business analysts make $89,000, up from $82,000 two years ago. Programmers/analysts saw their salaries rise from $75,000 to $79,000 over the last two years, and systems analysts likewise enjoyed an uptick, from $77,000 to $80,000, during the same period. While those jobs vary in their focus—systems analysts tend to focus on making systems more streamlined and efficient, for example, while programmers/analysts devote themselves to building applications and information systems—all of them deal in some way with the fire-hose of data flooding organizations these days. Other technology jobs on Dr. Dobb’s annual list generally enjoyed a rise in salary, with one notable exception: QA/software test engineer/analysts saw their average salaries dip from $82,000 to $81,000 over the past two years. The demand for analytical talent in the U.S. is outpacing the supply, according to a number of recent studies (including a 2011 report from McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office, which predicted that the talent need would exceed that supply by 50 to 60 percent by 2018). In turn, that’s driving businesses to examine self-service portals for data analysis: a recent study commissioned by Karmasphere of North American data professionals found that 70 percent of respondents wished for a self-service way to access Hadoop, a framework utilized by many organizations for data-crunching. (It must be noted that Karmasphere markets an eponymous Big Data platform emphasizing self-service analysis and data distribution.) However, an organization can only put so much data analysis and business intelligence in the hands of the average worker; mission-critical and complex applications will still demand those with experience—hence the hefty salaries for those tech workers learned in data and how to handle it. Here's the full Dr. Dobb's Salary Survey list: Image: Dr. Dobb's