IT workers made more in 2008 than they did in 2007.

The average information-technology pro made $78,035 last year, a 4.6% increase from 2007, according to tech job site Dice.com, which surveyed close to 20,000 of its visitors. Security analysts got the biggest raises in 2008, with an average salary increase of 8.4% to $86,778. Software engineers were next, with an increase of 7% to $90,031. Application developers got a 6.6% raise to $84,672.blockquote>

Overall, IT managers had the highest salaries, raking in $111,998 in 2008. Database administrators made $89,742, and network engineers took home $72,496. System developers were the only group tracked by Dice.com to get a pay cut in 2008, with the average salary dropping 1.3% to $87,211.

The cutoff for the survey was November 15, so current reality is not fully represented.

Still, last year was a better year for IT workers than for many people. As budgets tighten, 2009 may not be remembered as fondly -- although IT may still fare better than other areas.

Dice currently lists over 56,000 IT jobs.

Layoffs continue to be announced in the tech industry, but figures for employment within corporate IT shops are harder to come by. Meanwhile, tighter budgets are hurting services firms like Wipro.

This kind of thing may come in handy.