New IT Salary Survey For You

636-555-3226

Take it with a grain of salt (most of these surveys are a bit salty, esp. when used to sell their new magazine):

Survey results
http://cdn.certmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Salary-Survey-75-Updated.jpg

Original story
Salary Survey 2015: An All-New Salary Survey 75 - CertMag

Gpdriver17

Yeah, I would say that's not accurate, at all. A+ 93k... CCENT 103k. That's experience, not the certifications getting those salaries. What I don't get is why the PMP's make so much money. It seems like some project managers are way over paid. I have a friend that just got a job as an IT PM at a huge company and has no clue what shes's doing, no experience as a PM and makes 6 figures. She says its like watching paint dry.

ArabianKnight

Gpdriver17 wrote: »

Yeah, I would say that's not accurate, at all. A+ 93k... CCENT 103k. That's experience, not the certifications getting those salaries. What I don't get is why the PMP's make so much money. It seems like some project managers are way over paid. I have a friend that just got a job as an IT PM at a huge company and has no clue what shes's doing, no experience as a PM and makes 6 figures. She says its like watching paint dry.

I would like the name and number of that recruiter please

renacido

I believe it is accurate, but what you have to understand is that these certifications are not singular qualifications for any job, they are commonalities.

If the average CEH earns $118,000 per year, that doesn't mean that earning that credential qualifies you for a job at that salary. It means that the group of folks with CEH has an average salary of $118,000 per year. The typical person with CEH has years of full-time infosec experience, other related certs, education, etc. The sum of their qualifications, CEH among those, is why they earn $118,000/year. Plenty of CISOs and IT Security Managers have CEH but they make $140,000+ because of their 10+ years of experience and successful career progression from techie to manager to executive.

bpenn

I would also imagine this is taking larger metropolitan areas into consideration, since the COL is higher.

chrisone

Sure lets create a salary survey where we pretend CCIE does not exist.....

EnderWiggin

I'd like to see one of these where they do it solely based on the highest-level certification the person has. If you have an A+ as well as a CISSP, that's going to skew the A+ results, because the CISSP is so much more sought-after, that the A+ is irrelevant.

renacido

I think it's more useful to look at certs by number of cert holders vs jobs listing that cert as a qualification.

It's all about supply and demand. The fewer people there are with a proven ability to perform in that role, and the more important that role is to the business, the better the pay. Certs are not proof of how you will perform on the job, but they're an objective indicator of credibility.

Look for where there's a shortage in qualified applicants, and become qualified.

TheFORCE

Don't believe these surveys. They are not very accurate. There is no way someone with A+ to be making 93k and someone with MCSA to make only 14k more. That's ridiculous. And according to that, I am 40k-50k below what CISSP's should make. Time to show that to my manager.

techfiend

TIL RHCSA's make more money then RHCE's.

Verities

techfiend wrote: »

TIL RHCSA's make more money then RHCE's.

Don't forget LPIC-1s makes more money than Linux +s.

dhay13

well i'm at about 60% of what that survey says i should be making

techfiend

Ah, maybe that's why recruiters acted like they didn't know what LPIC-1 was. Nice bump on a paycheck stealthily referring to it as Linux+.

Maybe I should limit my knowledge to RHCSA because clearly the RHCE would lead to a salary reduction.

gespenstern

I'll be brief, dumb survey

renacido

It's not the survey that's wrong, you have to know how to read the data.

CISSP has been around for 26 years. The average CISSP has around 15 years experience in infosec, if you're a CISSP with 5 years experience you are not an equally-qualified candidate to the average just because you both share a certification. HINT: it's their experience level that qualifies them for mid-senior level positions earning 6-figures, not the cert itself.

A+ is something that not only help desk techs have, there are many who got an A+ cert years ago and have since progressed to mid- and senior-level IT roles. That easily explains the less than expected gap between A+ and MCSA holders.

One of the things this thread shows from my observation is that certs are seen by many of those who visit this forum as THE qualification for a specific job and salary. That is not the case. This may be un unpopular thing to say on a forum for tech certs, but certs just aren't what get you hired. They help a lot to get you an interview for a job, that's about as helpful as they get.

Very few certs are even close to carrying that sort of weight with hiring managers. Yeah the clueless HR recruiter who doesn't know a thing about IT just screens for the acronyms on resumes, but the manager who will have to rely on you to pull your weight and contribute the rare combination of hands-on skills, judgment, reliability, soft skills, teamwork, leadership, communication skills, etc., sees the cert as an indicator of credibility on the subject matter and NOTHING MORE.

TheFORCE

renacido wrote: »

It's not the survey that's wrong, you have to know how to read the data.

CISSP has been around for 26 years. The average CISSP has around 15 years experience in infosec, if you're a CISSP with 5 years experience you are not an equally-qualified candidate to the average just because you both share a certification. HINT: it's their experience level that qualifies them for mid-senior level positions earning 6-figures, not the cert itself.

A+ is something that not only help desk techs have, there are many who got an A+ cert years ago and have since progressed to mid- and senior-level IT roles. That easily explains the less than expected gap between A+ and MCSA holders.

One of the things this thread shows from my observation is that certs are seen by many of those who visit this forum as THE qualification for a specific job and salary. That is not the case. This may be un unpopular thing to say on a forum for tech certs, but certs just aren't what get you hired. They help a lot to get you an interview for a job, that's about as helpful as they get.

Very few certs are even close to carrying that sort of weight with hiring managers. Yeah the clueless HR recruiter who doesn't know a thing about IT just screens for the acronyms on resumes, but the manager who will have to rely on you to pull your weight and contribute the rare combination of hands-on skills, judgment, reliability, soft skills, teamwork, leadership, communication skills, etc., sees the cert as an indicator of credibility on the subject matter and NOTHING MORE.

We are reading the data. What we are saying is that the data are skewed exactly by what you just mentioned. Instead the people who do these surveys separate the certificates as individual certifications that can get you the said salary, when in fact we all know that that is not true. As previous people mentioned a better survey would account only the highest certification and not something lower. As an example, do a survey of people who hold ONLY A+ and then do a survey of people who hold ONLY an MCSA and a survey of people who hold both. Then you will see very different results.

The survey is misleading in the way it lists the certificates because it makes you beleive that having only A+ you could be making 90k.

Jay_Certified

I've been trying to find solid numbers on what the average salary should be for a tech in a help desk support role with only a A+cert, 5yrs IT experience, and a AAS degree in Network Systems Administration. Anyone have any input on this?

NetworkNewb

Jay_Certified wrote: »

I've been trying to find solid numbers on what the average salary should be for a tech in a help desk support role with only a A+cert, 5yrs IT experience, and a AAS degree in Network Systems Administration. Anyone have any input on this?

In LA... I would guess anywhere from 40k-70k. Would depend on the company and what exactly your duties are in that role.

UnixGuy

As usual, those surveys are completely pointless. I've yet to see an objective survey...but either way, as an individual, what the average person make shouldn't affect you. Things like GFC and recessions, if you're still gainfully employed and doing well, then what the average joe is doing shouldn't have a direct impact on you (that's the way I see it).

Verities

UnixGuy wrote: »

As usual, those surveys are completely pointless. I've yet to see an objective survey...but either way, as an individual, what the average person make shouldn't affect you. Things like GFC and recessions, if you're still gainfully employed and doing well, then what the average joe is doing shouldn't have a direct impact on you (that's the way I see it).

Agreed.
Perhaps we should resurrect the "Timeline: Your IT Career Progression" thread:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/98832-timeline-your-career-progression-4.html


*Not sure why but in Chrome, this puts an extra www.techexams in the link. Tested fine in Firefox (sorry I don't care enough to figure it out).*

EnderWiggin

Jay_Certified wrote: »

I've been trying to find solid numbers on what the average salary should be for a tech in a help desk support role with only a A+cert, 5yrs IT experience, and a AAS degree in Network Systems Administration. Anyone have any input on this?

Anywhere from $20K-$80K, depending on the cost of living in your area

Mike R

I haven't seen any IT jobs as low as 20K. Generally entry help desk tier 1 is around 26k-32k. NetworkNewb hit it pretty close to what I have been seeing for wages. I think it really will depend on how driven you are, with 5 years of xp you could have a lot more certs and expand your knowledge into other IT aspects.

fmitawaps

The middle column of non-u.s. numbers seem to be closer to the truth but still a bit on the high side.

blargoe

RHCSA is worth more than RHCE? Lol.

renacido

blargoe wrote: »

RHCSA is worth more than RHCE? Lol.

Not as a standalone cert. But I bet more IT Directors, Managers, Consultants, and Sales Engineers have RHCSA than RHCE.

renacido

To whomever gave me a negative reputation because they didn't like my previous comment, please grow a pair and explain your dissenting view in the thread like an adult instead of arguing anonymously via a one-way-only potshot negative rep comment.

markulous

Guessing the Project+ is so high because managers are more likely to have it? I haven't had someone once even acknowledge that I have that cert.

v1ral

Lmao im clearly not making what I should be making with the 2 certs I have.

jeremywatts2005

I guess at this point in my career certs don't mean much. I have A+,N+ and S+ but hold the two Master's degrees in Infosec and DFS. I just got a new position for 130K + 10.5% yearly bonus so I have joined the over 140K group. I am pushing to make 200K or higher in the next 8 yrs. I am considering my CISSP though I have almost 18 yrs experience in the field with some of that time managing colleges.

renacido

Pay scale is determined by a combination of the role, industry, geography, level of experience, etc. Most importantly: how critical you role is to success of the company + how hard it is to hire the right person for the job.

TechGromit

A+ Worth 93k? I don't even make that much with a GSEC, I think numbers for the lower level certs are complete BS. Tell me were the jobs are that pay 93k starting with the A+ and I'll frigging move. I say an A+ cert is worth 40k tops.