“These Salaries Are Peanuts”: Western Cape Man’s IT Support Salary Breakdown Has SA in Disbelief
A Western Cape man running the School of IT Instagram account posted a salary breakdown for IT support workers in South Africa on 3 June 2026, and the comment section erupted. He mapped out earnings from entry-level to specialist, but people already in the field had a very different experience to share.
Source: Instagram
The man outlined four earning tiers. He said graduates with under two years of experience could earn R12,000 to R18,000 a month. Technicians could earn up to R25,000, and senior technicians with five or more years could reach R35,000. Specialists, he said, could take home R35,000 to R50,000 or more.
Those figures are broadly in line with industry data. Indeed puts the average IT support salary in South Africa at R16,301 per month, based on 261 reported salaries. A 2026 salary guide shows junior technicians typically start between R10,000 and R16,000 a month.
The reality on the ground tells another story
South Africans working in IT were quick to push back. One person who identified as an IT support specialist laughed the numbers off entirely. Another commenter said companies in Durban were paying junior staff as little as R5,000 a month.
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One person said their sister had spent five months applying for cybersecurity jobs without a single offer. Others said South African IT salaries look like peanuts compared to what the same roles pay internationally.
The general feeling was that the sector is growing but still badly underpays the people keeping it running.
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More salary breakdowns
- A TikTok video revealed how much IT team leaders in South Africa earn after climbing the tech ladder.
- A detailed salary breakdown from a South African individual sparked widespread discussion online.
- A South African man earning R31,000 per month shared his expenses, as he unveiled what he had left after covering costs, sparking empathy online.
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Source: Briefly News
