Certs and higher salaries

Which path makes more?

The Cisco certifications or the security based certs these days. Although I know that the MS certs and CompTIA certs are good foundation certs, just wondering how people are doing out there salary wise?

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networker050184

I think trying to figure that out is pretty futile as there are too many other factors involved when it comes to salary.

I also think your earning potential is pretty similar whether you are going to try and be a high level security or network professional. Security is a hot button right now, but who knows what the next big rush in IT will be.

kiki162

It's certainly a broad question, I agree with you on that.

So here's another question for you. In your job position now, and as you have earned additional certifications, has that boosted your salary, or have you had to change jobs to see an increase? The question is certainly different for everyone, so that may or not may apply to you. Just wondering what people’s experiences have been like on TE.

chrisone

Agreed there is a vast amount of factors that would involve a good salary and certs.

Candidate A, can have many certs with 1 year experience and will most likely receive a smaller salary.

Candidate B, can have half the certs of candidate A, with 5 years experience, and have a very very nice salary.

Certs and experience are like HP/Torque to a cars performance measure. You need to be well rounded in both areas.

as for high end certs like CISSP, CCIE's, Microsoft Certified Master, i think just achieving those goals is a long enough journey in its own that they are very respected and come with a high salary no matter where you go on this planet. Trust me, there is a company in turkey or jamaca that will pay you a lot of money if you had those certs hahaha

networker050184

kiki162 wrote: »

It's certainly a broad question, I agree with you on that.

So here's another question for you. In your job position now, and as you have earned additional certifications, has that boosted your salary, or have you had to change jobs to see an increase? The question is certainly different for everyone, so that may or not may apply to you. Just wondering what people’s experiences have been like on TE.

Yes, earning more certifications has boosted my salary. Part of the objectives in my review every year has been to complete at least one related industry certification (among other goals). Reaching those goals allows me to get a higher raise each year.

I've also just took a new job with a large increase in pay. I'm sure my certifications had some consideration in the decision of what to offer me.

Mike-Mike

I got my HDI cert and I started making OVER six figures... granted, I am counting the two numbers behind the decimal point in those six figures... but there is still six figures there

chrisone

haha nice way of looking at it ^

kiki162

networker050184 wrote: »

Yes, earning more certifications has boosted my salary. Part of the objectives in my review every year has been to complete at least one related industry certification (among other goals). Reaching those goals allows me to get a higher raise each year.

I've also just took a new job with a large increase in pay. I'm sure my certifications had some consideration in the decision of what to offer me.

Yeah I guess there's certainly a plateau effect when it comes down to IT jobs. You get to a certain point within one job, then your education, job experience, certs, and goals take you beyond that...which in turn is why people like yourself move on to new jobs.

Turgon

kiki162 wrote: »

Which path makes more?

The Cisco certifications or the security based certs these days. Although I know that the MS certs and CompTIA certs are good foundation certs, just wondering how people are doing out there salary wise?

Early doors they can give you a bump up. Later on having a CCIE can be a pre-requisite but sometimes this is waived if you have bigtime experience. Later on it's good to have a decent portfolio of certifications behind you but it's really your proven field experience that determines your salary in the big leagues, architect level etc.

RobertKaucher

Turgon wrote: »

Early doors they can give you a bump up. Later on having a CCIE can be a pre-requisite but sometimes this is waived if you have bigtime experience. Later on it's good to have a decent portfolio of certifications behind you but it's really your proven field experience that determines your salary in the big leagues, architect level etc.

I think this is a true statement even when you are not in the big leagues.

Turgon

RobertKaucher wrote: »

I think this is a true statement even when you are not in the big leagues.

Increasingly so in the lower echelons these days yes.

Aldur

kiki162 wrote: »

So here's another question for you. In your job position now, and as you have earned additional certifications, has that boosted your salary, or have you had to change jobs to see an increase? The question is certainly different for everyone, so that may or not may apply to you. Just wondering what people’s experiences have been like on TE.

In my current position if I was to pick up another expert level cert I would not see an immediate salary increase. Granted I'm sure it would contribute to getting a better raise next year, but no immediate increase.

xenodamus

I've never planned on a certification getting me a raise in my current position. I take exams to learn and make my resume look good for:

a) higher level positions that open up in my company
b) other jobs I'm applying for

Granted, I'm not "technically" in an admin position at this point. So I still have a lot of upward momentum left.

I will say, though, that constantly studying and certifying causes me to get good reviews every year - which leads to a raise.

kurfer

kiki162 wrote: »

Which path makes more?

The Cisco certifications or the security based certs these days. Although I know that the MS certs and CompTIA certs are good foundation certs, just wondering how people are doing out there salary wise?

I wouldn't look at certifications as to how much money they bring in but as a tool to get into the industry. There are plenty of networking jobs paying well into the 6 figures so that should be enough to know it's possible (cert or no cert).

The certification may help get that interview but once that meeting starts it's all about you and only you.

I can assure you, if you're interviewing for a job that pays $160k/year it's because you have a proven skillset and are highly recommended. At that point your certs mean jack!

If you're looking to move jobs and would like to spice up your resume then you should target the cert that focuses on the industry you want to focus on. Salary history also plays a big role too, sometimes the only way to get a real boost is to jump to another job, and again the cert can help.

The only company I have ever seen that bases pay off of certs obtained are consulting companies and only then because they can use you as a cost-center and bump your rate to their customers based on your certs.

N2IT

Aldur wrote: »

In my current position if I was to pick up another expert level cert I would not see an immediate salary increase. Granted I'm sure it would contribute to getting a better raise next year, but no immediate increase.

That beats, getting a cert and having no chance of getting a raise from it.

Which you and I both well know happens.

When I study for a certification, which can take from 2 weeks to 2.5 months. What I notice is picking up a bunch of tid bit pieces of information. Little ah ha moments, but nothing at the analysis, synthesis, or evaluation level. That for me requires to actually do the work. So in other words the only real way to get a deep organic understanding of the technology, framework, process, etc is to actualy perform the work. I think 99.999999999999999999% of the people are like this. Employers are aware of this, at least all the managers I have known and currently work with. They might not be aware of the Bloom Taxonomy, but understand the concept of experience.

kiki162

I completely agree with everyone on here in that you need to have the skills and time in along with the certs to move up the chain. You can't get anywhere w/o the experience factor, and you gotta start at the bottom just like everyone else. Crappy jobs and all... Been there, done that.

I'm just curious as to what people's experiences have been as they have progressed into the "higher end certs" along the way. Bottom line, I'm looking for a change and I'm trying to decide on where to start..that's all.

N2IT

kiki162 wrote: »

I completely agree with everyone on here in that you need to have the skills and time in along with the certs to move up the chain. You can't get anywhere w/o the experience factor, and you gotta start at the bottom just like everyone else. Crappy jobs and all... Been there, done that.

I'm just curious as to what people's experiences have been as they have progressed into the "higher end certs" along the way. Bottom line, I'm looking for a change and I'm trying to decide on where to start..that's all.

You have more technology certifications than I, but imo it's better to become a master at something not a jack of all trades.

There have been arguments that in this market you don't want to pigeon hole yourself into one subject. However, I would rather go with a high risk high reward model.

IMO find what you enjoy. Learn as much as you can and apply that knowledge as well. If you can do it at work, even better.

If you want to move up become an expert in something that you enjoy and something that has value.

kiki162

Makes sense to me. Yeah I hate the idea of being "locked in" to a job or career field for that matter. I like to branch out and learn as much as I can. Problem is making and having the time to do it all, LOL.

N2IT

kiki162 wrote: »

Makes sense to me. Yeah I hate the idea of being "locked in" to a job or career field for that matter. I like to branch out and learn as much as I can. Problem is making and having the time to do it all, LOL.

I sure don't have the time anymore to do a ton of certifications. With 2 kids and a wife along with a stressful job, I can maybe do one mid leveled certification a year now.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

N2IT wrote: »

If you want to move up become an expert in something that you enjoy and something that has value.

I agree with this statement. I specialized in ETL development and BI, and was able to move out of my previous position as a systems administrator into my current role. The move awarded me with a 40%+ increase in salary putting me at over 70k.

I also agree with the majority of what's already been stated here. It's a combination of things that bring you a higher salary. During the interview my certifications or my degrees were never brought up. The entire time, I was quizzed on my past experience and projects that I've worked on. When I started, I was told that the reason why I was hired was because of my experience.

N2IT

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

I agree with this statement. I specialized in ETL development and BI, and was able to move out of my previous position as a systems administrator into my current role. The move awarded me with a 40%+ increase in salary putting me at over 70k.

I also agree with the majority of what's already been stated here. It's a combination of things that bring you a higher salary. During the interview my certifications or my degrees were never brought up. The entire time, I was quizzed on my past experience and projects that I've worked on. When I started, I was told that the reason why I was hired was because of my experience.

I had several BI and Data Analyst interviews in the last 5 months. I agree with everything you said. Keep in mind it's been a while but here is what I was asked.

How comfortable am I with numbers?
Any Visual Basic, SQL or SAS/Business Objects experience
Scenario based questions were asked quite a bit
Statisical use in a business environment

Nothing was ever brought up about my certifications or degree. However if I had a certification in SAS or Business Objects that would of been golden so in some regards having certs would of helped. But honestly it came down to my answers. Everytime it would come down to 2 candidates and I would finish number 2

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

N2IT wrote: »

However if I had a certification in SAS or Business Objects that would of been golden so in some regards having certs would of helped. But honestly it came down to my answers.

Oh I totally agree. Having certs definitely won't hurt.

PsychoFin

In my experience if I had a certification not relevant to the position in question I often got questions on those topics as well. Certifications definitely helped me land those interviews though.

RobertKaucher

N2IT wrote: »

You have more technology certifications than I, but imo it's better to become a master at something not a jack of all trades.

There have been arguments that in this market you don't want to pigeon hole yourself into one subject. However, I would rather go with a high risk high reward model.

IMO find what you enjoy. Learn as much as you can and apply that knowledge as well. If you can do it at work, even better.

If you want to move up become an expert in something that you enjoy and something that has value.

I agree with this statement but I think that for people breaking into certain fields in IT, such as being a sys admin, the importance of a broad range of knowledge cannot be overstated! When people become very skilled, say 7 to 10 years of experience, they forget what it was like when they were starting out. If you are 3 years into your career in IT (2 years as support, one as jr. admin for example) and are going from support to sys admin it might be better for you to learn the basics of SQL Server and SharePoint as well as advanced stuff about DNS and AD than it would be to start specializing on just one technology. I would say that once a person has about 3 years of experience in an admin role they are developed enough professionally to go to the next level and start focusing in on a specific technology.

I also see people who go directly from school into a specialized field such as being a DBA or working in BI but that is different - in general in this forum we are talking about people who by the nature of their current job roles *need to be* a jack of all trades. It's only once they achieve a level of mastery of their current roles are they really able to move up. If a person is having issues at work really understanding topics A, B, and C at a non-trivial level (just 'cause you can install and configure AD does not mean you understand it) then asking them to really learn the internals of say SQL Server hardware performance tuning is going to be counterproductive.

I'm using a new ergo keyboard so I'm sorry for all my errors!