The chief operating officer (COO) at a company with less than $50M in sales will typically make 73% of the CEO's base salary. Top marketing and sales executives average 58%, while top data- processing and IS executives make 39%. [Inc., 7/92. Kelly E. Dwyer, CW, 7/13.] Guess who is most easily replaced. Guess who gives the orders and who takes them. You're working for someone else no matter how high you get.

Computerworld has published salary figures for computing and MIS professionals. Averages including bonus: programmer-senior programmer, $30K-$38K; programmer/analyst, $36K-$43K; systems analyst, $41.5K-$47.5K; database analyst, $45K; database manager, $52K; project manager, $53K; systems & program manager, $57.5K; IS manager, $60K; CIO/VP/IS director, $76.6K. (Other officers get more: CFO, $105K; COO, $140K, and CEO $202K.) Large corporations usually pay a few $K more, as do companies in CA, NY, DC, Chicago, ... Included bonuses range from $900 for programmers to $1.6K for senior systems analysts, $3K for program managers, and $7K for VPs. The sample was too small for industries to be ranked consistently. Women are still few and paid less then men in equivalent categories, although age, length of employment, and other factors may be responsible. James Hackett says than many women fail to seek management positions. "A 10-12-year female employee with full knowledge of the system should be banging on my door every quarter saying 'When am I going to become the assistant director?'" [CW, 9/7.]

At Computer Associates, the typical career path starts in quality assurance or testing, moves to product support, and then into development. Typical salaries are $36K for senior programmers, $51.5K for systems, and $68K for IS managers. [Emily Leinfuss, CW, 9/21.] Jobs in new-product development carry the highest status, so they're not likely to be given to contractors or new hires.