Nowadays, just a degree is not enough for excelling in your career. It is getting more and more competitive, and it is important to stand out from the crowd by being more professional in what you do. The best way to achieve it is through professional certifications. In some cases, these professional qualifications are enough to land a good job on a standalone basis. The certification process is particularly demanding in the IT industry where a particular set of skills and training is needed for many jobs. Here are some of the qualifications that are proving to be a real money spinner nowadays:
1.VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization
According to the global knowledge survey, professionals holding this certification earn around 99,334 $ per year, up from 94,181 $. The VCP-DCV test allows the person to perform basic deployment and act as administrator of vCenter and ESXi. It used to be a single certification, but it has gotten complex and has gotten multiple tracks as well.
2. ITIL v3 Foundation
Professionals with this certifications bring home an average salary of 99,869 $ per annum as compared 95,434 $ last year. This certification’s learning base is quite broad and covers capacity management, change management and even IT operations management. It is the entry level ITIL certification and e-learn about the IT Lifecycle with the help of it. It was created by the English government back in the 1980s but has gone major changes since its inception.
3. Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Security
Now this is one certification you must know as you have to deal with these guys from time to time. The CCNP professionals bring home around $101,414, which is less than $105,319 in 2015. The candidates are required to pass four stages of network related exams covering network edge security, secure access and threat control. This certification does have pre-requisites in the form of CCIE or any other certification from CISCO like CCNA.
4. Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization
Professionals with this degree bag a solid average salary of 102,138 $ per year from 97,998 $ last year. It allows a person to deploy applications and virtual desktops using a variety of Citrix Technologies available. It also has several pre-requisite certifications as well like Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE). Its validity is three years.
5. Six Sigma Green Belt
Holders of this Product Lifecycle Management Certification earn around 102,594 $ per year, up from 101,038 $ earned last year. It is a process by which defects and problems in a manufacturing process or cycle can be found out and relayed to the management. There is one version that allows existing processes to improve as well. Many institutes offer this certification since it is owned by any company. It is just a concept, and each entity has its own unique theory about it.
6. Certified Ethical Hacker
The Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) professionals bring home a salary of $103,297, which has increased from $95,155 last year alone. Their job is to test regularly the end user’s network defenses by finding out loopholes and taking care of them if need be. Hackers can paralyze and control communication systems and it is the job of these ethical hackers to keep the system up to date and secure. It is a job description that will definitely see some heavy growth in the coming years.
7. Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)
Another professional certification from Cisco, the premier networking company in the world. Professionals bring around $ 105,088 per year down from $ 111,295 last year alone. It is meant for senior-level network architects who want to design advanced network environments and services for their employers. Although it doesn’t have any pre-requisite certifications, the individuals who take this must have an idea of switching and routing as well as using Network Virtualization technologies.
8. Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center
Holders of this certification earn almost $107,045 up from 94,803 $ from last year. Its Data Center certification track was started in 2012 and focuses on basic technologies like networking, storage and virtualization. The CCNA Data center certification is an amazing certification to start with if you want to become a network professional.
9. Certified Information System Auditor (CISA)
Professionals with CISA bagged around $113,320, an increase from $106,181 last year. The individuals who do this certification are trained and tested to find and eradicate vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with the IT department. CISA is one of the oldest network certifications and started way back in 1978 when networking was in its infancy.
10. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
These certified professionals earned $125,871 last year which is a lot more than $114,935 they earned last year. This is a newer certification from Amazon Web Services and was launched in 2013. It addresses topics like designing in AWS, selecting the appropriate services for a particular situation and estimating costs. The AWS has also launched several other certifications as well!