Can Certification Make a Difference? (continued)
While some certifications are "so easy to get it's laughable," Foote concurs with Melde that certifications from Cisco and The Project Management Institute absolutely guarantee a bump in pay. Similarly, security certifications such as CISSP and CISP, and some of the certifications offered by Novell and Oracle are likely to draw increased compensation.
For the past seven years, rapid application development/extreme programming is the highest paying skill, whether certified or non-certified, according to the Foote Partners' 3rd Quarter 2006 Hot Technical Skills and Certifications Pay Index survey of pay for 253 IT skills, which included 55,000 U.S. and Canadian IT workers.
But overall, Foote emphasizes that "more and more companies are finding they have to pay the individual, not the job."
About the Author
Esther Shein is a freelance writer and editor specializing in technology and business issues. She is the former editor-in-chief of Datamation, an online technology magazine.
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