Computer Occupations, All Other Salary

The median computer occupations, all other salary in the United States is $116,580 per year ($56.05/hour). Salaries range from $55,940 at the entry level to $188,470+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 435,370 computer occupations, all other jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to grow 8.2% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 Β· Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Salary
$116,580
per year
Hourly Rate
$56.05
per hour
Employment
435,370
jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile
$55,940
25th percentile
$79,370
Median
$116,580
75th percentile
$157,500
90th percentile
$188,470

Job Growth (2024-2034)

+8.2%
Faster than average

Annual Openings

31,300
jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

Bachelor's degree

Computer Occupations, All Other Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for computer occupations, all others.

Computer occupations, all other is the BLS bucket for high-paying IT roles that don't fit the standard software engineer, sysadmin, or network engineer categories: GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) analyst, cloud FinOps engineer, developer relations (DevRel) engineer, IT program manager, technical account manager (TAM), data platform engineer, product ops, and hybrid architect-consulting seats. Median across the category is $116,580 with p10 $55,940 and p90 $188,470 β€” the top decile skews toward AWS/Google Cloud/Microsoft solutions architects, Snowflake/Databricks TAMs, CrowdStrike/Palo Alto GRC managers, and HashiCorp/Databricks DevRel principals. Comp variance is high because 'all other' spans defensive infrastructure specialists to customer-facing architects.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Cloud architecture (AWS / Azure / GCP)
Reference architectures for compute, network, identity, data, and security. Not full-stack engineering β€” you don't write production code β€” but you must design and defend an architecture in a whiteboard round at any hyperscaler.
GRC + compliance frameworks (SOC2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FedRAMP)
Control catalog fluency, evidence collection, gap assessment, and audit walkthrough. Tools: Vanta, Drata, OneTrust, ServiceNow GRC. Frameworks: NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, CIS Benchmarks.
FinOps (cloud cost optimization)
Reserved instances, Savings Plans, Spot, rightsizing, unused-resource cleanup, chargeback / showback. Tools: AWS Cost Explorer / Trusted Advisor, Cloudability, Apptio Cloudability, Kubecost. Certified FinOps Practitioner is the entry credential.
Developer relations / technical writing (for DevRel roles)
Write reference architectures, quickstarts, and blog posts that a mid-level engineer can execute. Build sample apps and demos. Speak at meetups and conferences. Track community metrics: GitHub stars, doc traffic, activation of new APIs.
Technical account management (TAM) for enterprise customers
Own a portfolio of 5-25 named enterprise customers post-sales. Quarterly business reviews, roadmap alignment, escalation ownership, technical health checks. Success measured by retention, expansion, and NPS.
IT program management (multi-year, multi-team)
Cloud migration, ERP implementation, security transformation, or M&A integration programs. RACI, dependency mapping, executive steering, budget ownership at $2-50M program scope. PMP + PMI-ACP are common.
Scripting + automation (Python, Bash, Terraform, PowerShell)
You're not a full-time engineer, but you can automate β€” write Python to pull an API, Terraform to reproduce an environment, Bash to script a check. If you can't script, you can't lead the technical conversation credibly.
Executive communication + stakeholder management
Write executive briefings, CISO-level risk memos, and roadmap decks that a VP or SVP can defend to the board. Present to non-technical audiences without oversimplifying to the point of losing your engineering peers' trust.

How to Become a Computer Occupations, All Other

  1. 1
    Bachelor's in CS, IS, cybersecurity, or a quantitative field
    The strongest funnels come from CS + info security programs. A quantitative degree beats a generic business degree on the rΓ©sumΓ© screen at any technical-track seat.
  2. 2
    Start in a technical adjacent role: IT analyst, junior GRC, IT support engineer, associate TAM, or DevRel intern
    $65-95k base. This is the foundational rung. Build hands-on with AWS/GCP/Azure, learn one compliance framework end-to-end, or ship your first developer content. Two to four years here.
  3. 3
    Move into a specialty seat (GRC, FinOps, DevRel, TAM, IT PM)
    $95-135k base. Pick a lane. GRC analyst at CrowdStrike / Palo Alto / a Big 4. FinOps engineer at AWS / GCP / a large SaaS. TAM at Snowflake / Databricks / HashiCorp. IT program manager at IBM / Accenture / a Fortune 500 IT org.
  4. 4
    Get the specialty certifications early
    AWS Solutions Architect Associate β†’ Pro. CISSP + CCSP for GRC. FinOps Certified Practitioner + Certified FinOps Professional. Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) for platform/DevRel. Every promotion at the specialty level is credential-adjacent.
  5. 5
    Advance to Sr Specialist β†’ Principal β†’ Manager / Sr Manager
    $135-215k base + RSU. Sr GRC Manager, Sr FinOps Engineer, Principal DevRel, Sr TAM, Sr IT Program Manager. IC and manager forks both exist; comp at the top of the IC track is often equal to the manager track at large tech.
  6. 6
    Optional: transition to CISO track (GRC), Director FinOps, Head of DevRel, or Sr Director IT PMO
    $215-355k+ total comp. At this level, the seat converges with the security, engineering, or IT-leadership tracks. Many practitioners choose to stay senior IC because the pay is comparable and the scope is deeper.

Career Progression

IT Analyst / Junior Specialist (entry)
0-3 yrs$65-95k base + 5-10% bonus
  • β€’Run recurring compliance checks, cost reports, or ticket queues under supervision
  • β€’Learn one cloud platform end-to-end (usually AWS) and one framework (SOC2 or ISO 27001)
  • β€’Support senior specialists on customer or internal engagements
  • β€’Own documentation and evidence collection for audits or reviews
Next: Specialist / Sr Analyst at 2-4 years, once you're driving engagements independently.
Specialist / Sr Analyst (GRC, FinOps, TAM, DevRel, IT PM)
3-6 yrs$95-135k base + 10-15% bonus + $15-40k RSU
  • β€’Own a scope: a compliance framework, a cloud cost portfolio, a customer book, a content stream, or a program
  • β€’Lead engagements without a senior specialist in the room
  • β€’Drive quarterly reviews (QBRs, ARR-tied reviews, or program steering committees) with customer or internal executives
  • β€’Certifications: AWS SAA + one specialty (CISSP, FinOps Practitioner, CKA)
Next: Sr Specialist at 6-9 years, or fork into people management.
Sr Specialist / Sr Engineer / Sr TAM / Sr IT Program Manager
6-10 yrs$135-185k base + 15-25% bonus + $40-80k RSU refresh
  • β€’Own a portfolio of 10-25 enterprise customers, or 3-5 concurrent multi-quarter programs, or an entire GRC domain
  • β€’Represent the function in cross-org executive reviews
  • β€’Mentor 2-4 specialists / analysts
  • β€’AWS Solutions Architect Pro + CISSP or FinOps Professional or Certified Kubernetes Administrator
Next: Principal / Manager at 9-13 years β€” fork by IC vs manager preference.
Principal / Manager (fork)
10-15 yrs$185-265k base + 25-35% bonus + $80-150k RSU refresh
  • β€’Principal: deepest technical / advisory scope; owns architecture reviews, framework selection, roadmap direction
  • β€’Manager: runs a team of 6-15 specialists; owns headcount, ramp, and cadence
  • β€’Represent the function on the CISO / CIO / VP staff
  • β€’Own a multi-year strategy for the domain
Next: Sr Manager / Sr Principal / Director at 13-18 years.
Director / Sr Director / Head of Domain
15+ yrs$265-455k+ total comp with LTIP / RSU
  • β€’Own the full function (GRC, FinOps, DevRel, TAM, IT PMO)
  • β€’Report to a CISO, CIO, CTO, or VP Customer Success
  • β€’Set 3-year strategy and annual operating plan for the domain
  • β€’Manage a team of 20-80+ across the function
Next: VP / CISO / CIO track depending on function.

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 18 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Walk me through the last SOC2 (or ISO 27001) engagement you led.technical
Structure: (1) scope β€” Type I vs Type II, systems in scope, timeline; (2) control set β€” which controls were new, which were carryover, where were the gaps; (3) evidence collection process β€” how you avoided the last-week scramble; (4) auditor engagement β€” walkthroughs, sample selection, findings; (5) outcome β€” clean report or exceptions and how you remediated. Strong answers name the auditor, the compliance-automation tool used (Vanta, Drata, OneTrust), and specific control findings.
Q2. How would you cut 20% of our AWS bill without breaking anything?case
Sequence: (1) get the cost data β€” Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, or a FinOps tool like Cloudability; (2) rank spend by service β€” usually EC2, RDS, S3, and data transfer are 60-80% of the bill; (3) look for immediate wins β€” unused / stopped resources, orphaned volumes, over-provisioned RDS; (4) pursue commitment-based savings β€” Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot for non-prod; (5) work with engineering on rightsizing and idle-time policies. Never propose blanket cuts β€” always tie each recommendation to a specific service and a specific business owner.
Q3. Describe a difficult enterprise customer escalation you owned as a TAM.behavioral
STAR. Situation: a $2M ARR customer threatening to churn over a specific product limitation. Task: keep the account and restore trust. Action: I ran a written retro with the customer's engineering lead, escalated to our Product team with a specific business case, negotiated a workaround plus a roadmap commitment, and set a 60-day checkpoint. Result: the customer renewed at $2.4M with a 3-year contract. Interviewers screen for whether you owned it end-to-end without escalating too early to your VP.
Q4. How do you decide whether a technical topic is worth a DevRel blog post?situational
Three tests: (1) does it solve a problem a developer has hit in the last 90 days β€” check community forums, Discord, Stack Overflow, GitHub issues; (2) does it demonstrate a specific product capability the sales team is currently trying to sell; (3) can a mid-level engineer execute the tutorial in 30-60 minutes without hitting a wall. If two of three, write it. If all three, prioritize it. Reject purely aspirational posts β€” they don't drive activation and they age poorly.
Q5. Why this specialty (GRC / FinOps / DevRel / TAM / IT PM) and not full-time engineering?culture
The honest answer: you love the technology but you're energized by the customer, compliance, cost, or program-management side of it. Show that you understand the trade β€” you'll never write production code in this seat, but you'll influence roadmap, unlock enterprise deals, prevent breaches, or save millions in cloud spend. Say which of those outcomes lights you up most. Avoid saying 'money' as the reason even though the money is real β€” hiring managers screen for practitioners who genuinely enjoy the customer / advisory / program-management surface area.

Resume Template β€” Specialist / Sr Analyst (3-6 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Specialist / Sr Analyst (3-6 yrs)
  • β–ΈOwned SOC2 Type II + ISO 27001 audits across a 400-employee SaaS; cleaned closed both cycles with zero exceptions and 45% fewer evidence requests via Vanta automation.
  • β–ΈCut $1.9M in annualized AWS spend (18% of infra bill) through Savings Plan coverage, unused-resource cleanup, and rightsizing on non-prod EKS clusters.
  • β–ΈAWS Solutions Architect Associate + CISSP + Certified FinOps Practitioner. BS Computer Science, [university].
  • β–Έ$125k base + 12% bonus + $28k RSU. Progressed Analyst β†’ Sr Analyst β†’ Specialist over 4 years.

What Gets You Rejected

  • βœ—Cannot script β€” can't automate a control check, a cost pull, or a customer diagnostic; slows every task by hand-doing it.
  • βœ—Certification-heavy, hands-on-light β€” has AWS Pro + CISSP + CCSP but has never designed a real production architecture.
  • βœ—Buzzword compliance β€” says 'zero trust' or 'shift left' without being able to describe the actual controls, tools, or process changes it entails.
  • βœ—Cannot say no to a customer or a stakeholder β€” accepts every scope expansion and never runs a tight engagement.
  • βœ—Weak written communication β€” cannot produce a crisp CISO-level memo, a customer QBR deck, or a program status update.
  • βœ—No opinion on framework selection β€” treats SOC2, ISO, NIST, and CIS as interchangeable instead of choosing the right one for the business.
  • βœ—Escalates to engineering for every technical question β€” signals you don't have the depth to own the customer or the audit yourself.
  • βœ—Cannot articulate the difference between IC and manager tracks β€” signals you haven't thought about your own advancement.

Salary Negotiation Levers

  • βœ“Specialty premium β€” cloud + security specialty combined pays 20-35% above generalist IT; GRC-at-scale + FedRAMP experience is the top tier.
  • βœ“Certifications stack β€” CISSP + AWS Pro + FinOps Professional is the trifecta that unlocks Sr / Principal comp bands.
  • βœ“Metro premium β€” SF Bay, NYC, Seattle, DC (for FedRAMP / clearance-adjacent seats) pay 15-25% above secondary metros.
  • βœ“Sign-on bonuses of $15-75k are standard at Sr Specialist and above, especially to offset unvested equity.
  • βœ“Equity refreshers at public tech are the long-term wealth driver β€” negotiate the refresher cadence and target, not just the initial grant.
  • βœ“Clearance premium β€” active TS/SCI, DoD 8570, or FedRAMP-ready practitioners command a 15-25% premium on top of base for federal-adjacent work.

Computer Occupations, All Other Resume Review β€” $29

Personalized resume review from someone who has hired computer occupations, all others. Purchase, email your resume to support@weblabra.com, and receive detailed written feedback within 7 days.

  • βœ“ Occupation-specific critique (not generic)
  • βœ“ Rewrite suggestions for weak bullets
  • βœ“ Missing skills / keywords flagged
  • βœ“ Formatting + ATS-readability feedback
  • βœ“ 7-day turnaround, 100% refund if we miss it

Computer Occupations, All Other Career Kit β€” $19

  • βœ“ All 18 interview questions with expert answers
  • βœ“ 11 real questions aggregated from Glassdoor, Blind, Reddit, LinkedIn
  • βœ“ Interview format intel for 8 top employers
  • βœ“ 4 copy-paste salary negotiation emails
  • βœ“ Resume bullets for every level of the career ladder
  • βœ“ 30–60–90 day plan for your first role
  • βœ“ Cover letter templates specific to this occupation
  • βœ“ Detailed salary negotiation script
  • βœ“ Ranked list of certifications with cost + ROI
  • βœ“ Downloadable PDF for offline access
  • βœ“ Instant access, no expiration, no subscription
βœ“ 7-day money-back guarantee β€” no questions asked

One-time purchase. 7-day refund guarantee.

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Computer Occupations, All Other Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) β†’

Salary Map β€” Click a state for details

$76K
$157Kβ–  No data

Top Paying States

District of Columbia
$157K
+34%
Maryland
$145K
+24%
Colorado
$140K
+20%
Virginia
$139K
+19%
Delaware
$137K
+18%
California
$134K
+15%
Washington
$129K
+11%
Connecticut
$128K
+10%
New Mexico
$127K
+9%
Hawaii
$120K
+3%
Vertical line = national median. Click a state for full details.
StateMedianvs. National
District of Columbia$156,590+34.3%
Maryland$144,680+24.1%
Colorado$139,580+19.7%
Virginia$139,030+19.3%
Delaware$137,470+17.9%
California$134,440+15.3%
Washington$128,940+10.6%
Connecticut$127,720+9.6%
New Mexico$127,090+9.0%
Hawaii$120,100+3.0%
1–10 of 51

Computer Occupations, All Other Salary by Metro Area

Metro AreaMedianvs. National
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA$184,430+58.2%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$161,700+38.7%
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO$160,520+37.7%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$156,640+34.4%
Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV$148,700+27.6%
Boulder, CO$147,590+26.6%
Lexington Park, MD$144,680+24.1%
Charlottesville, VA$144,580+24.0%
Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT$140,750+20.7%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$136,120+16.8%
1–10 of 345
Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.
How does this compare to pro athletes?
A computer occupations, all other earning $116,580/year would need 511 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 549 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.
See all sports & celebrity salaries β†’
πŸ“ˆ See how computer occupations, all other salaries have changed over the past decade.
View Computer Occupations, All Other salary trend (2011–2024) β†’