15 Top Paying IT Certifications
The rapid innovation and the evolution of IT push the world on the horizon of an industrial revolution. This may cause a significant number of unemployment where the world depends on new concepts and technologies. This is the current scenario of the whole world in recent days. The innovation and evolution of the Internet have changed both the pattern and the paradigm of global business trends and other factors. The use of the Internet is also considered the third industrial revolution of the world. The booms of the internet have grabbed the global economy by almost every means. Technological transformation and the rapid growth of IT lead the world towards the latest practices of Information Technology, based on Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Virtualization, Cloud Computing, etc.
Such advancement of technology has dictated the fast adaptation in the organization according to the change in the working process. It indicates that organizations had to rely mostly on technology by minimizing the expense without compromising the product and/or service quality. Cloud computing, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Virtualization, Big Data are all considered different technical pieces under the same big umbrella. To adapt to such a blend of new technologies at once, the demand creates skilled professionals having experience in this technology. The demand for skilled and experienced professionals in Big Data, Machine Learning, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Virtualization and Cloud Computing and/or similar subject matter is extremely high, only because the supply is extremely low.
This is the prime time and chance for IT professionals to earn certificates on the subject matter, which are comparatively new in the IT industry. Such certification validates IT professionals’ capacity and ability to be considered the top-paying certified professionals in the industry.
Certification and Salary Structure of 15 Top Paying IT Certifications are mentioned below:
- Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect — £135,691
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate — £115,376
- CISM – Certified Information Security Manager — £114,739
- CRISC – Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control — £113,085
- PMP® – Project Management Professional — £110,780
- CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professional — £109,204
- CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor — £102,121
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner — £101,494
- VCP6-DCV: VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization — £100,537
- ITIL® Foundation — £99,901
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals — £97,779
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate — £97,269
- CCA-N: Citrix Certified Associate – Networking — £96,707
- CCNP Routing and Switching — £92,008
- 1CCP-V: Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization — £90,380
1. Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
This certification program, offered by Google, is considered the validation for one of the top paid jobs for IT professionals. The content of the curriculum of this certification let the IT professionals earn the skill required to work with Cloud Architecture. This certification also recognizes the capacity of the IT professionals to design, develop, deploy, install, manage, monitor and configure the cloud infrastructure for the organization.
Skill and experience on cloud infrastructure are now considered an integral part of any business and/or organization. Cloud technology is now an essential part of any business. It is now possible to optimize the data processing capacity by minimizing the infrastructure cost and the primary investment in the business. The demands of Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect are extremely high that the employees are even ready to pay around £115,803
The most interesting part of cloud IT professionals is that they occupy a tiny and significant part of the IT industry. The same IT Google Certified Professional Cloud Architects are also a tiny part of the most highly paid employees in the IT industry.
2. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
AWS is considered the leading certification provider on cloud technology for IT professionals. This certification is so widely accepted and globally recognized that almost every IT professionals working with cloud technology have this certification at their disposal. According to a survey report, around 28% of the Cloud-based IT professionals have the Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect and AWS Solution Architect to accelerate their career path. AWS certification validates the capacity of an IT Professional to design, develop and deploy a stable cloud system for the organization or business. This certificate program is the best option for those IT professionals responsible for working with the architecture of the IT infrastructure to develop a scalable cloud base solution for the organization.
3. CISM – Certified Information Security Manager
Cybersecurity is one of the primary concerns of almost every business across the world as businesses are getting more dependent on cloud-based storage systems and cloud computing. The alarmingly increasing rate of cyber attacks confirms the concern of cybersecurity. This certification recognizes the capacity of an IT professional to identify, analyze, design, develop and deploy an effective and appropriate access mechanism to the business data.
CISM – Certified Information Security Managers are considered IT professionals and/or cybersecurity specialists having adequate knowledge and skills to deal with the business’s assets. This certification helps IT professionals move along their career path as a cybersecurity specialist, and they can even look forward to seeking managerial roles at their workplace. This is why even IT professionals having experience of more than 20 years are also considering this as one of the most valuable certifications. This certification confirms that the IT professionals have a strong grip over four different aspects of cybersecurity, which are
- Information Security Governance
- Information Risk Management
- Information Security Program Development and Management
- Information Security Incident Management
4. CRISC – Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control
Any damage, loss or theft in data can cause severe loss in the business and/or organization. Even compliance of the organizations has changed a lot due to such vulnerability issues. Organizations are now required to design, develop and deploy such a compliance policy, which minimizes the risk of data vulnerability. Usually, regular IT professionals are not fully capable of assessing the risk of the information system infrastructure of the organization. Only a certified professional can earn the required skill and knowledge to figure out and deal with the risk in information systems that imply the enterprise’s assets.
Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control recognizes the capacity of an IT professional to identify, manage and mitigate the risk related to the IT infrastructure of the organization. This certification is also considered leadership centric recognition as the skill and experience earned through this certification allow the IT professionals to work even with the organisation’s managerial and/or other leadership roles.
5. PMP – Project Management Professional
PMP institute is offering globally recognized and accepted courses on project Management Professional Certification. The content of the curriculum of this course is designed to deliver the leadership skill and required knowledge to the individuals to design, develop, deploy, configure, maintain and monitor the project effectively and efficiently. This certification could be considered a key factor for IT individuals to accelerate their career path in project management and leadership related job roles.
The demand for PMP Certified Project Management professionals is relatively high compared with other job roles in the IT industry. IT professionals consider this certification as the means to earn knowledge and gain experience in their relevant job roles. IT professionals must complete thirty-five (35) hours of training to earn this certificate. On the other hand, IT professionals who do not have any college and/or university degree may need to spend seventy-five hundred (7500) hours of training to become a Project Management Professional.
6. CISSP – Certified Information System Security Professional
This is another globally recognized certification for IT professionals working on IT security-related issues at their job roles. CISSP is certified by the International Information System Security Certification (ISC)2, which endorses the knowledge and experience of an IT professional on Cyber Security. Certified Information System Security Professionals are capable of designing, developing, deploying, configuring, managing and monitoring enterprise-level Cyber Security. This certification program is considered almost the Master’s degree in Cyber Security and/or relevant subject matter.
Cyber Security is now becoming such a key issue for almost every business (regardless of its size and type) across the world. Certified Information System Security Professionals are acknowledged as key individuals with almost every element of Cyber Security. Cyber Security is considered a relatively complex issue compared with other issues that are relevant to IT. This is another key reason why only theoretical knowledge of Cyber Security is enough for any IT professional. It is recommended that they have working experience as a full-time Cyber Security professional for at least five (5) or more years.
7. CISA – Certified Information System Auditor
CISA certification is offered and provided by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), which approves the capacity of an IT professional to audit and analyze the risk factors and adequate skill and experience of working on Cyber Security related issues. Certified Information System Auditors are capable of finding loopholes in the data security of an organization. They have to ensure a safe and secure environment for dealing with both regular and confidential business data. Compared with other certification programs, this is a bit older version of certification for Cyber Security. However, it is still considered as a globally recognized certification IT System Auditor and Cyber Security Professional. The content of the course curriculum of this certification program focuses on five key issues which are:
a) Auditing the infrastructure of the Information System of an organization.
b) Managing and Monitoring the IT infrastructure.
c) Manage and monitor the procurement, development, and deployment phase of the organisation’s Information System.
d) Ensure effective operation, maintenance and management of the Information System.
e) Secure the elements and assets of the Information System.
8. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
This is considered one of the basic levels of certifications for the It professionals who prefer developing their career as DevOps Engineer, Solution Architect, Cloud Engineer, Cloud Architect and so on. The course curriculum of this certification is designed to deliver a comprehensive overview of the services of Cloud Architecture. As it is considered one basic level of IT certification, no particular prerequisite is required.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification is designed for IT professionals who have stepped into the IT industry. This certificate will help them achieve and earn a more advanced level of certification through their career path. This certification endorses the skill required for an IT professional to know about the basic principles of Cloud Architecture and the core services that are part of the AWS Network. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner must also have the capacity to define the compliance and IT security issues.
9. VCP6 – DCV: VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization
VCP6 – DCV certification endorses the skills required to develop a stable virtual environment (up and Running) using VMware vSphere6. VCP6 – DCV certified IT professionals could install, configure and monitor the tools and techniques required for virtualization, like vSphere High Availability, Distributed Resource Scheduler clusters and so on.
With this certification, IT professionals are ranked as 7.4 out of 10, which is considered the top-ranked list.
IT professionals required to work with virtualization technology must have earned at least one such certification for a better career path in the future. It is recommended that they pass at least two exams, vSphere6 Foundation and VCP6 – DCV. IT professionals, who have already earned these certifications, may go further with VCP6-DCV (2V0-621) exam or VCP6-DCV Delta (2V0-621D) exam.
10. ITIL Foundation
Certified training programs from Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) focus on the processes relevant to Software Development and Frameworks. ITIL Framework and Services are introduced in the ITIL Foundation certificate program, and it also equips ITIL Service Management following an effective operational model. This certification endorses the experience and knowledge of the ITIL framework of the IT professional and how to manage the IT services.
IT professionals can have a comprehensive view and understanding of the IT lifecycle. This certification program also focuses on the integration process of IT elements and the optimization mechanism for those elements for a better business process.
11. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
Azure is one of the most sophisticated cloud computing networks developed by the tech giant Microsoft. The security and the services provided by Azure makes it one of the most widely accepted cloud architectures in the market. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals delivers basic knowledge about the fundamentals of cloud services. This certification program is designed to let the professionals get a comprehensive understanding of the safety, security, and compliance of an organisation’s IT infrastructure.
This certification program is designed for professionals who have no prior knowledge and/or experience of IT and/or Cloud infrastructure but must deal with cloud products and services. Mid or senior-level professionals like Program Managers, Sales and/or Product Managers and people working at similar job roles who are not required to have an in-depth understanding of Cloud Technology may consider this certification the best option for their career path. IT professionals are not required to go for Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals, rather looking forward to other Azure Certifications.
12. Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate recognizes the skills required for IT professionals to become successful Azure Cloud Administrator. This is considered one of Microsoft’s role-based certifications, directly aligned with the relevant job roles. IT professionals with this certification are usually administered and manage the elements of cloud services, including the system’s security, storage mechanism, and computer networking.
You have to pass the exam AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator to get this certification. IT professionals are usually looking forward to earning more certification after passing AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator. Two such certifications are Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate Certification and Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Certification.
13. CCA – N: Citrix Certified Associate – Networking
CCA – N certification covers the basics of Computer Networking, which includes traffic management, data security, network protocols, protocol configuration, etc. IT professionals working in Computer Networking job roles with this certificate can also troubleshoot Computer Network-related issues.
All certification from Citrix will remain valid for three years, and CCA – N is no exception to that validation period. CCA – N certified professionals can deploy and configure any Citrix network.
To earn this certification, you have to pass one of two exams: Citrix CCA-N 1Y0-230 or Citrix CCA-N 1Y0-240.
14. CCNP Routing and Switching
Cisco is one of the most widely used and globally accepted vendors for Computer Networks. Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) endorse the ability of an IT professional to design, develop, deploy, configure, maintain and monitor the LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide/Wireless area Network). Cisco offers CCNP certification of different and diversified elements of Computer Network like Data Center, Voice, Video and other types of transmission. Routing and Switching are considered the first step to know how a Computer Network works. CCNP Routing and Switching professionals are required to collaborate with engineers and administrators of enterprise-level Computer Network.
From 23rd February 2020, Cisco replaced CCNP Routing and Switching exam by launching a new certification framework known as ‘CCNP Enterprise’. CCNP Routing and Switching certification no longer exist, but Computer Network professionals with CCNP Routing and Switching certification can easily migrate to the new certification.
Cisco brought such change in the name, code and subject matter as the paradigm of Computer Network is changing due to the rapid innovation of IT. Conventional Computer Network System has started to be replaced by SDN (Software Defined Network). To earn CCNP certification, you have to pass two separate exams concentrating on both theoretical and technical subject matter of Computer Networking.
15. CCP – V: Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization
This certification recognizes the capacity of an IT professional to deploy, configure, maintain and monitor the Xen Desktop Solutions. There is a prerequisite for CCP – V certification: The Citrix Certified Associate – Virtualization (CCA – V). To get this certification, you must have to pass the exam with the code: 1Y0-311. The context of this certification will give you an overall idea about the Intermediate FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA), Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA), Workspace Environment Management (WEM), user environment, application layering and so on.