Study Shows Downside of IT Certification

Long seen as a method to maximize employment opportunities and salaries in the post-dot-com-bust era, a study released today finds that pay for certified IT skills falls short of the pay for non-certified skills.Tracking the market value of 212 IT skills and certifications, premium pay for 103 non-certified skills averaged 7.1 percent of the base salary for a single skill. This number was up from 6.8 percent in Q1 2005, and 6.6 percent in Q1 2004.
Pay for non-certified skills grew nearly 70 percent more than certifications, or 4.4 percent versus 2.6 percent respectively.
Among “cooling” certified tech skills, those that have lost their value in the last year, the study lists nine, including MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician), CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor), and three Novell certifications (NCDE,MCNE, and CCNA).Highest-paid certifications include CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor), and five different Cisco certifications (CCDP, CCEA, CCIE, CCIP and CCSP).Skills categories showing the most growth in the survey included Applications Development/Programming Languages, Project Management, Training, Webmaster and Security.