UPA UK Salary Survey shows £38,000 Mean

The first UPA UK salary survey results show a range of £18,500 to £90,000 paid to British usability specialists, with a mean of £37,801 and a median of £35,000.

If you are better paid, you are more likely to join the UPA. The average figures are:
UPA members: £39,399
Unaffiliated: £35,479
or, as the UPA committee might put it, if you join the UPA you are more likely to earn more!

In putting together the results, the UPA have cut the data several ways to allow individuals to compare salaries according to gender, geography, job-level and age. They point out that breaking the data down further would have yielded small, unrepresentative samples. Thus, the results provide a feel for the market, rather than direct comparisons.

An element that is presented on UN exclusively is the breakdown by education:

Level: Mean / Median
Diploma: 37,500 / 34,500
A level: 32,667 / 33,500
BSc: 36,080 / 36,000
MSc: 39,217 / 35,000
PhD: 40,964 / 38,000
(Showing, it must be observed, very little return on the extra three years of study between MSc and PhD!)

The full survey, presented as a PDF, is available on UK UPA's website. UPA UK president, Giles Colborne, director of Customer Experience for Euro RSCG Circle, says 'As far as I'm aware, this is the largest survey of usability practitioners available.'

Only one person was said he was overpaid. Rather people felt that they were worth more than they were getting. Not intended to stir up emotions, the survey is offered as a guide and a negotiating tool. Read the full report by visiting the UPA UK website (below).

The advice given by employers and careers advisors at the UK UPA's recent careers event stressed the need for a long-term career plan, constant improvement of technical skills, and strong interpersonal skills.

Details of the methodology are given in the pdf. The 136 survey respondents counted in these results had good usability credentials. Three-quarters belonged to either UPA, SIG-CHI or BHCIG, with half belonging to UPA. Nine out of ten had a bachelor's degree or higher. 43% of respondents had a degree in HCI or human factors and around seven percent had a degree in psychology. Half of respondents said that their entire job was related to HCI or human factors. 86% of respondents said that the majority of their job was HCI or human factors related.

Most respondents described themselves as midlevel, non-supervisory - probably one of a few usability specialists within their company. The largest group of respondents to the survey fell into the 26-35 age group, representing the explosion in usability practitioners over the past decade. There were no respondents in age categories over 56. This could be due to the media used to recruit respondents (primarily email).

Associated Link: UPA UK Chapter2003 Salary Survey (pdf on main site)

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