Certifications and their salary/advancement impact

I often wonder what impact certifications have on salary. I've heard some mention that soon after obtaining a cert or some certs, that they were awarded either a raise or raise and promotion. I've heard others say that they received no financial gains until moving to another position outside their original company.

I'm curious because I feel that I've gained a lot of knowledge over the last 2 1/2 years I've been in IT, and I can see the difference in what skills I offer my company. I feel I'm a bit underpaid in relation to the work I do compared to my co-workers with the same responsibilities. The big difference is not so much in knowledge (I am amongst the most advanced in regards to client/server OS knowledge/troubleshooting), but more in my lack of experience (only 2.5 years total in IT). I do desktop support, server administration level work. I'm curious as to what impact earning certs (and the knowledge gained from studying and labs) have had on your salaries. I'm not so rude as to look for numerical figures, but looking for a sense of what to expect. Thanks.

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Comments

pwjohnston

undomiel wrote:

Well I'm not the best one to answer this currently but it has had 0 impact so far. I have had to hide from the company that I am pursuing certifications because I was specifically told not to pursue certification when I inquired about it after starting here. But once I have the MCSE then I will be job pursuing and that should give me a very nice salary increase if everything works out as planned.

That's some BS. I had a group try and do that to me, but it wasn't telling me that I couldn't. They just kept emphasizing how getting more certification testing wouldn't be "worth" anything. Ya not to them because they were cheap. I received a 30% raise when I left them due to certs I worked for.

Sounds like greedy money grubbing bastards to me. I'd keep a list of companies available from dice or CL or whatever just in case.

pesinet

Not always is the case, i get some new certification and my actual boss (NO IT DIRECTOR) told me, for your jobs here you don't need certification (I am System Administrator) so no salary increase. This is my example. I will leaving but first need to find a new job.

Good Luck.

HeroPsycho

You know, there are three types of people in this world:

Those who can count, and those who can't.

pLuhhmm

IMO, even tho i have yet to get a job dealing with any type of computing, Having certs is better then not having them. Also I think value for getting a job goes: experience, education and then certs. Thankfully every business (besides Amish, hehe) has a need for IT people like us

Lucky for me the one thing in Michigan that is improving is the amount of IT jobs phewww.

jamesp1983

I've gotten my MCSA, Security+, CCNA, MCSE, and half of my CCNP and haven't seen a dollar increase. I've performed extremely well, and actually am pulling double duty as a systems admin and network engineer. They gave me the second title after i finished my BSCI. I've been with the company for 2 years. I don't know if you can equate certs to raises.

LBC90805

larrydaman wrote:

vsmith3rd wrote:

That's about what I've been hearing. Its almost as if company A has an employee, John, starting on the ground level at the same time that company B has an employee, Jane, starting at that level. Both employees get the same level of experience, have the same competency level, and the same certs. Jane leaves Company B for company A, and gets hired at a higher salary than that of John at company A (hope this makes sense), and John has to help train Jane. I'm not naive enough to believe in any true loyalty between company and employee in the current world in which we live, but shouldn't there be some pretense in loyalty. If I sound a little too interested in other's experiences, its because my situation is a little like John's. Does this mean one has to leave, to reap the benefit of their knowledge gained?

This is very common in the D.C area, and the short answer is that if money is the most important factor... you have to leave.

It's a two-way dynamic, you can bet if there are enough budget cuts, you could very well be fired.

If your budget/wallet needs a boost, you should have no qualms about leaving. The days of getting up and going to the same job for 40 years are pretty much gone. Loyalty is overrated, just don't burn any bridges.

The best word of advice I have heard today. Ultimately Businesses do not care about their employees. And when it comes down to brass taxes, you can be let go at any time; especially when times are thin.

HeroPsycho

And you can do the same, and employees frequently leave these days, too.

We shouldn't pretend the big bad businesses have no loyalty to us, and we're doing nothing wrong in that regard. Job hopping is very high these days.

Silentsoul

I read somewhere that the easiest way to get a big pay increase, get a new job. You will almost never get the amount from the company you work for, that you will get from a new job. I use to truly believe in being loyal to the company 100 percent, Then I walked in one day and was told, go home you don't work here anymore. It was a lay off and even though i had more time than others that kept their job it was all about who you knew. So sure loyalty to your company is nice and all, but always remember to thine own self be true.

Aldur

pLuhhmm wrote:

I think value for getting a job goes: experience, education and then certs.

I dunno, from my experience its expected to have a degree and then your experience comes into play and then your certs. If you don't have a degree, or are closing to getting one, then most places don't want to see you.

HeroPsycho

Silentsoul wrote:

I use to truly believe in being loyal to the company 100 percent, Then I walked in one day and was told, go home you don't work here anymore. It was a lay off and even though i had more time than others that kept their job it was all about who you knew. So sure loyalty to your company is nice and all, but always remember to thine own self be true.

That's the problem. You can't assume all companies will have no loyalty to you, because that's the same thing as businesses assuming all their employees will have no loyalty.

Moving on to better positions however in my opinion is not disloyal. Not giving two weeks notice at the least, not documenting systems if given the opportunity on the way out, quickly leaving after the company paid for expensive training for you, etc. are closer to disloyalty. Keep in mind it's a two way street. If my employer was being clearly less than loyal to me, I wouldn't hesitate leaving them in any of those lurches.

undomiel

Aldur wrote:

pLuhhmm wrote:

I think value for getting a job goes: experience, education and then certs.

I dunno, from my experience its expected to have a degree and then your experience comes into play and then your certs. If you don't have a degree, or are closing to getting one, then most places don't want to see you.

I would disagree. There are still plenty of places that will consider you even though you don't have a college degree. Even if the job listing says that a college degree is required in my experience they will still call you as they are much more interested in knowing if you have experience in X area. They care far more about the experience that you have than the degree. The degree may make it easier to get over the initial entry level barrier with no experience though. There are plenty of debates/flame fests on here to reference back to about people's strong opinions on this.

networker050184

Aldur wrote:

pLuhhmm wrote:

I think value for getting a job goes: experience, education and then certs.

I dunno, from my experience its expected to have a degree and then your experience comes into play and then your certs. If you don't have a degree, or are closing to getting one, then most places don't want to see you.

I would also have to disagree with this 100%. I don't have a degree or even one college credit and have never had any problem finding a job. The only thing I have ever heard about a degree when speaking with a company is that they will pay if I want to get one even though pretty much every job I have had "required" a bachelors degree according to the job qualifications.

blargoe

Only difference a degree may make from the companies I've worked in, is not having one might be an excuse for them to pay you a little less. If you have the right experience, they'll interview you.

LifelongLearner

vsmith3rd wrote:

I often wonder what impact certifications have on salary. I've heard some mention that soon after obtaining a cert or some certs, that they were awarded either a raise or raise and promotion. I've heard others say that they received no financial gains until moving to another position outside their original company. Thanks.

Some of my certs have landed me a pay rise. Others haven't impacted my salary one bit. But what all have done is made me more knowledgable and more marketable. As a result I'm confident to leave my current company and find myself a better position because of that knowledge.

zen master

undomiel wrote:

Aldur wrote:

pLuhhmm wrote:

I think value for getting a job goes: experience, education and then certs.

I dunno, from my experience its expected to have a degree and then your experience comes into play and then your certs. If you don't have a degree, or are closing to getting one, then most places don't want to see you.

I would disagree. There are still plenty of places that will consider you even though you don't have a college degree. Even if the job listing says that a college degree is required in my experience they will still call you as they are much more interested in knowing if you have experience in X area. They care far more about the experience that you have than the degree. The degree may make it easier to get over the initial entry level barrier with no experience though. There are plenty of debates/flame fests on here to reference back to about people's strong opinions on this.

This one of the main reasons that this issue is so difficult to get an objective view on. People with degrees can't handle the idea that they wasted 3+ years studying at Uni, while those that don't have degrees are sick of those with degrees having an attitude that they're "better" than them. Chances of getting an opinion from someone in the field that isn't heavily biased is always extremely difficult. My two cents, everyone has a degree these days, and while in the past, it was easy to walk into a tech company without one, these days, it's not nearly as easy. Those guys with experience and no degree may be able to do quite well, but if you're just getting into the field, the degree, in my experience is a pretty good advantage. Also, it opens up MSc options that may not be available otherwise. BTW, can you provide a link to some of those flame fests, those can be pretty entertaining.

TechJunky

I have never received a pay raise because of my certifications. The certifications have always qualified me for the next step in my career and thus allowed me the opportunity to show my experience/skills to the employer during the interview and landed me that next job.

Degrees/Certifications are usually used as political reasons to justify a cause. IE: some companys may explain that you need a MCSA/MCSE or a bachlors degree and relevant working experience. If you do not meet any of those qualifications they can use it as just cause for not promoting you or giving you the raise you deserve.

I know a bunch of big organizations use this process up here.

IE:
A+ and 2 years of experience or an associates = helpdesk analyst 1
A+, N+ 2 years of experience or an associates= helpdesk analyst 2
A+, N+, and MCSA bachlors or 4 years of experience = helpdesk manager/helpdesk lead
A+, N+, MCSE, bachlors or 6 years of experience = Systems Administrator

If you didnt meet all of the required critieria you wouldn't be able to move to the next level, no matter how good you are. This is VERY common in a structured enterprise environment.

My current job states that I need to be working towards my MCSE and I need to obtain it within 6 months of employement for me to stay where I am. Luckily since I have 8 years of experience they were willing to dismiss the MCSE and require an MCSA. Hence why I have started taking my tests again.

Hopefully that helps.