The Skills That Reap Pay Premiums

Employers increase compensation for expertise in security, storage and convergence

Management & Careers By Deb Radcliff, Network World, 03/02/07

When Adam Quiggle upgraded his Cisco Certified Network Associate certification to Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, he boosted his pay by 35%. His new skills -- which command a 10% to 15% premium in most enterprises -- were particularly valuable to the network company that hired him, Multimax, because it was ramping up to build the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the second-largest network in the world next to the Internet.

That was in 2003; the pay premium Multimax now gives CCIEs has leveled off to about 10% to 15%. To earn as much as $20,000 in additional pay, Multimax's staff need to attain cutting-edge skills, particularly in security. A security clearance, the CCIE security certification or security-industry certifications including the Certified Information Security Professional or ISACA's Certified Information Security Manager are in demand.

Such is the story with specialty skills: In today's hot network-convergence areas, specialists can command premiums of 10% to 20% -- or more if they have the right combination of skills and industry background, according to researchers and employers. However, just as quickly as these skills make pay skyrocket, they can lose their value to the new skills required for next-generation network environments, says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer for IT-workforce research firm Foote Partners.

Zeus Kerravala, vice president and global practice leader at Yankee Group, describes this as supply and demand, Internet-style. "Things hard to do before, like setting up a switching and routing network, are easy today and don't command so high a salary as things that are new today and harder to do," he says.

The big bucks

Today's emerging technologies, such as VoIP, video, storage-area networks (SAN) and security, are commanding the premiums. The highest-paid specialty skill set, represented by the Brocade Certified SAN Designer certification, last year eclipsed the CCIE's $105,000 average salary by $7,000, according to Certification Magazine's annual certifications-salary survey released in December.

Nipping at the heels of the CCIE is another storage-vendor certification, the EMC Proven Professional Technology Architect, with an annual salary of $94,000, according to the survey. Certifications close behind are the Cisco Certified Design Professional, with a nearly $93,000 annual salary; and the Cisco Certified Voice Professional, with a $88,000 annual salary.

Additionally, employers are paying more when the right industry, systems or security experience accompanies a certification. "A certification is a proxy for a skill," says Cushing Anderson, program director at IDC. "Employers want to pay for demonstrable skills however they might insert them."

For example, AT&T's Robert Lamb, director of convergence contact-center services in Houston, says he pays an additional 15% salary premium to CCIE holders with a background in such call-center technologies as Cisco's Unity. Being able to write to those applications in XML and Java would earn even more, he says. "As I evaluate résumés, there aren't a lot of certifications that show me if the applicant knows how to use a platform or its key performance analytics as it pertains to the network," he says. "I need people who can think holistically about a project."

At Bell Canada

This also is the case at Bell Canada, the primary communications provider for Ontario and Québec provinces and surrounding areas. Technical-support team members must have at least two product certifications to provide state-of-the-art technical support to field engineers, says Elaine Peters, a technical support manager at the company. Through a vendor-supported achievement program, they've developed most of these skills in-house; most technicians now hold six or more certifications. "The more certifications, the more recognition they received," she says.

As such, the CCIE and Nortel's expert certifications -- the NCDE (for design), the NCSE (for support) and the NCTE (for technology) -- are getting high profile among Peters' team, particularly when the employee also has Bell Canada's newest in-demand skill set represented by Avaya's IP telephony certifications, such as the Avaya Certified Expert, she says. Another certification stream being added to the list is the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE).

"Right now, due to the partnership between Microsoft and Nortel, there will be a lot of codevelopment between the two companies, and I'm going to need certifications in MCSE to complement our Nortel engineering certs," Peters says. "Our technicians need to understand networking, applications and the operating system."

Expect this trend toward cross-certifications to become the norm as the boundaries between network and systems continue to blur, IDC's Anderson and others say. And remember that network skills that command premiums today might not be so hot tomorrow.

To stay at top pay, network professionals must be able to identify trends and develop new skills for when they'll be called for, says Victor Janulaitis, founder of Janco Associates, an IT outsourcer and staffing firm in Park City, Utah.

The alternatives are for network professionals with older skill sets to relocate to slower adopters -- municipalities and enterprises not in the high-tech business, for example. Or they can target parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, where the demand for basic network skills, such as those associated with the CCNA and Cisco Certified Network Associate certifications, is now increasing, says Drew Rosen, senior manager of learning and development at Cisco.

Radcliff is a freelance writer in California. She can be reached at deb@radcliff.com.

This article reprinted courtesy of http://www.networkworld.com.