Salary Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

In every industry, there are large-scale business undertakings that require input and participation from a range of employees. Collaboration is essential to getting things done in 2016. A key element of that collaborative effort is supplied by the global employment arena's growing contingent of project managers, and a key subset of that increasingly important labor force is certified project managers who guide IT-driven and IT-connected endeavors to fruition.

IT project managers can expect to work their magic in a variety of professional settings. Project management has become almost inseparable, for example, from enterprise software development. While one project managers oversees software development, on the other hand, a colleague might assist in large-scale software deployment, helping an government agency or multinational corporation coordinate the installation of a security program, or publishing tool across thousands of workstations.

In our recently completed Salary Survey PLUS, we asked certified project managers a series of questions about where they work. If you're considering a career in project management, you may have asked yourself what's out there. The possibilities, as noted above, are broad and far-ranging, but our findings may give you a general sense of some of the industry sectors where project management is thriving.

The first question asked project managers what area of IT they are most often involved in. Information security had the largest footprint, claiming 38.5 percent of respondents, followed by IT service management with 23.1 percent. The next largest group of respondents are involved in software (15.4 percent), followed by hardware installation and maintenance (7.7 percent). The remaining 15 percent of respondents are spread through a variety of IT specializations, including data analysis, cloud, technology design and development.

We then asked those participating in the survey in what industry sectors they are employed, which resulted in the following distribution:

Financial Services — 15.4 percent
Computer or Network Consulting — 15.2 percent
Government — 9.1 percent
Business Services and Consulting — 8.8 percent
Health or Medical Services — 7.7 percent
Energy Production — 7.4 percent
Wholesale, Retail or Trade — 6.9 percent
Aerospace — 6.5 percent
Data Storage or Processing — 6.2 percent
All Others — 16.8 percent

Finally, we asked those surveyed to identify the relative size of their present employer. Large employers have a strong claim, with 23 percent of respondents employed at organizations with between 1,001 and 5,000 employees, while 8 percent have between 5,000 and 10,000 coworkers, and 15 percent are employed at truly large organizations with more than 10,000 employees. On the other hand, there is room to manage your own career and work for a variety of clients:  A healthy 16 percent of those surveyed are self-employed.

STARDUST MEMORIES  Singular '70s rocker (not that he ever really stopped; that's just when he was at the height of his notoriety) David Bowie departed the mortal sphere on Jan. 10, just as we were preparing to deploy our Project Management Salary Survey. So it seemed like a natural impulse to include him in the Not-So-Serous business at the end of the survey.

How keenly are certified project managers feeling the loss of Ziggy Stardust? We asked about survey respondents' reaction to the news of his death, and here's what we learned:

Dude had some great songs. I "liked" all of the memorial posts on Facebook and favorited some tweets. — 30.2 percent
David Bowie was still alive? — 23.1 percent
The world has lost a monumental thinker and visionary artist. I shaved my head and work sackcloth and ashes for a week. — 15.9 percent
I guess Commander Zorbatron of the Galactic Empire finally called him home. — 8.8 percent
Bowie was the shiz. I dropped acid and gave all of 45s a spin. — 8.3 percent
Isn't that the guy who was in Labyrinth with Jennifer Connelly? — 7.2 percent
Never heard any of his music, but I sure do like his knives. — 6.5 percent

Original question: What was your reaction to the death, on Jan. 10, of David Bowie?