Non-Cert employees > payscale then MCP?

pLuhhmm

I just got my redmont MS magazine and it was about salaries and it said that people with out certs were paid nearly 30,000 more then people with a MCP (55k) idk how that is or if its just one of those stats thats weird idk.. But one stat did stick out though! 12.6%(highest %) IT salaries were 100k-130k!!!! lowest was like 50k which is still awesome for like being the lowest you can work in IT.

I especially love these stats b/c IT is the biggest growing career field in Michigan and the demand for it is going to be really high when I get my associates degree which hopefully will decide whether or not i go back for my bach right away.

HeroPsycho

The reason non-MCP's are probably higher could be a lot of reasons:

- They have other certs that would get them a higher salary. - They sampled people who are experienced but who never bothered to get certified at all. I know numerous people who've done that. One woman I've worked with just got a job making almost $100,000 a year without holding a single cert. They are the exceptions to the rule though. - They have a college degree but no certs. Remember, an MCP may have only passed one exam. A college degree should have more value than that.

JDMurray

Did the salary survey divide the results by geographical area? If not, then the survey is almost useless. A job in a major city (LA, NY, SF, etc) will not pay the same as the same job in a less-populated area. Also, businesses regard certification very differently. You might find one Fortune 500 company that allows certifications to influence its salary levels, and another Fortune 500 company that does not consider most certifications in its salary structure. Often, consideration for certifications is left up to the department managers when deciding on raises. In one IT department your MCP might be worth an extra $5K, but in the adjacent IT department the manager might not know what a "Microsoft Certification" is.

It's such a crap-shoot that the results of a salary survey is heavily influenced by who responds. Imagine the survey results if 10% of the responders have both an A+ cert and a $100K+/year job. Obviously, the A+ cert didn't get them that job, but the survey can't discern that fact. It just makes the A+ cert look much more financially rewarding than it really is

astorrs

HeroPsycho wrote:

- They sampled people who are experienced but who never bothered to get certified at all.

That was me until May of this year. Because of things like that I tend to be very leary of those kinds of surveys for gaging salary potential.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=251728#251728

undomiel

It's also 'cause there are people like me who are weighing down the low end of the salary scale.