It’s official: being in IT no longer means your paycheck is automatically headed skyward. In 2025, the gap between tech’s winners and losers is wider than ever, with a few specialties snagging record raises, while others feel the chill of salary freezes—or worse. So, who’s cashing in and who’s getting left behind? Grab your crystal ball (and maybe your calculator), because the Silkhom 2025 IT Salary Barometer spills all the beans.
Salary Jump or Salary Slump? The Lay of the IT Land
- After a period of post-COVID euphoria (read: frenzied hiring and salary surges), the IT job market has cooled down, according to Silkhom’s analysis of data from over 20,000 candidates between 2019 and 2025.
- While 2024 saw a whopping 7% salary increase on average, the latest numbers show growth has slowed to a steadier 3% this year.
- This apparent stability, however, hides some epic plot twists: salary swings are now heavily influenced by specialization.
If you’re in cloud computing or cybersecurity, you’re probably not reading this article—you’re too busy popping champagne. But for others, such as web development or IT support, the champagne has firmly been put back on ice.
Who’s Winning Big in the Pay Stakes?
Certain roles are the undisputed salary kings for 2025:
- Infrastructure Project Managers: Top earners at 58,750 euros/year, with a sizzling 12.9% jump.
- DevSecOps: Up an eye-popping 13.9%, now clocking in at 50,000 euros annually.
- Cybersecurity Engineers: Riding the same wave at 50,000 euros, thanks to continued demand.
- Linux System Administrators and Application Architects: Not far behind, with a 9.4% raise.
- Cloud Engineers: Stylishly raking in an 8.7% increase.
In the world of IT infrastructure, most jobs have either climbed or held steady. Only DevOps Engineers are feeling the pinch, with a slight 1.4% drop putting them at 46,000 euros—so still plenty of room for avocado toast, but less for the second sports car.
Where the Winds Are Less Favorable: Fields Feeling the Pinch
Now, let’s talk about the salary underdogs:
- .Net Developers: Down by a gut-wrenching 7.3% in 2025—ouch.
- Fullstack Developers: Their incomes dropped by 3.6%.
- Technical Project Managers: Also in the red with a 3.1% decrease.
- Product Managers: Down 2.8%, with Back-end JS Developers following at a 2.6% cut.
Basic and support roles confront a surplus of talent. The crowded field causes not only salary stagnation, but increased competition for jobs that are growing in number, but shrinking in paychecks. For instance, support engineers stay stuck at 43,500 euros, and workstation managers hold steady at 33,500 euros, unchanged from 2024. Support technicians are scraping a slight 1.6% lift, landing at 29,000 euros—yes, that number fits on a post-it note.
High-Tech Glam: AI, Data, and Electronics
Amid the salary see-saw, fashionable sectors like AI and data still pack a punch:
- Deep Learning Engineers: 47,500 euros (+3%).
- Data Engineers: 47,500 euros (+1.4%).
- Top-Paid Data Scientists & Computer Vision Engineers: Both bagging 50,500 euros, even with a micro-dip (0.3% and 0.5% decreases, respectively).
- Electronics & Embedded Systems: Progressing gently, with salaries between 44,000 and 50,500 euros, depending on the area of expertise.
The lesson? Some cutting-edge disciplines are weathering the market’s shift with only minor turbulence.
IT Recruitment: The Rules Are Changing
According to Thomas Baverel, founder of Silkhom, the IT job market isn’t shrinking, but it’s evolving dramatically. After years of wild hiring and snap decisions, a new sense of caution is settling in. Companies are becoming more selective, and hiring processes are dragging out longer than ever. While skilled professionals remain in demand, employers have raised the bar:
- Technical chops alone aren’t enough any more.
- Candidates are increasingly judged on cultural fit, adaptability, resilience, and stability.
So, alongside your coding skills, make sure to polish up that positive attitude and what recruiters lovingly call “soft skills.” In 2025, those might just be your ticket to joining the IT salary winners’ circle.
Bottom line: The world of IT pay has never been more unequal, but opportunities abound if you play your cards—and your cloud certifications—right. The market rewards specialists in hot fields, while generalists and support roles face stiffer competition than ever. Eyes up, tech pros: your next big raise may depend on how well you can adapt, not just how many languages you know.
