Salary Survey
Content
Salaries are up—way up!—across the board for those of you holding Cisco certification titles, with both starting salaries and top-tier credentials bringing in significantly more than ever before.
IT INFLUENCER SERIES
TCPmag.com Salary Survey
2006-2007
CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The Cisco Certifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Average Salary by Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Experience Is Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Other Base Salary Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 More from Our Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Additional Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
TCPMag.com
Internetworking Salary Survey
Salaries are up—way up!—across the board for those of you holding Cisco certification titles, with both starting salaries and top-tier credentials bringing in significantly more than ever before.
By TCPmag.com Editors
2006-2007
The Cisco Certifications
ot familiar with Cisco’s family of internetworking certifications? Below is a breakdown of each title plus links for more information from Cisco: • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA): One of Cisco’s two entry-level or “Associate” titles, this one- or two-exam option focusing on networking skills is one of the most popular of all of the company’s credentials. • Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA): The second of Cisco’s two entry-level certifications, this one focuses on the design aspects of networking. • Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP): Commonly the next step after the CCNA, this certification focuses on mid-level (or as Cisco likes to call it, the “Professional-level” internetworking skills. • Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP): The mid-level next step for the CCDA. • Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP): A “Professional” level title for those who want to step up focusing on security instead of general routing and switching (CCNP) or design (CCDP). Requires passing five exams. • Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP) and Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP): Two relatively new mid-level titles from Cisco give candidates other options for their professional level. Due to not enough readers holding these certifications yet, we were not able to include them.
N
1 | 2006-2007 | TCPmag.com |
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I
t’s been more than two years since we last conducted the last TCPmag.com Internetworking Salary Survey. In that time, if you’re an IT professional working with Cisco technology and you haven’t seen your salary rise, then you’re in a small minority—at least compared to TCPmag.com’s readership. Across the board, averages for all Cisco certifications are up—and not just by a few thousand. For example, the average salary in 2004 for those of you who held a CCNA was $60,000—now, that number has jumped to a little more than $76,000. Higher-end Cisco certifications are also doing well, with, for example, the average CCIE reporting a salary of a little more than $116,000, up from $102,000 a few years ago. In fact, based on our history of doing this survey (since 2001), if you’re a professional working with Cisco technologies and holding a Cisco certification, on average you’re earning more than you ever did before. Of course, many factors go into these figures, including other certifications held, where one lives, technical specialties and—with more than 50 percent of readers taking this survey having worked more than 10 years in IT (you all are a seasoned bunch!)—experience. We’ll break it all down for you below, showing you the averages based on a number of different factors to help you best determine where you should fall.
Average Salary by Certification
Let’s first jump into what you come to this salary survey for: the average salary for those holding various Cisco certifications. Below is Chart #1, which breaks out the certification averages for the various Cisco certifications. We’ve also included data showing the averages from our last survey published in early 2004. Some important notes: 1. A breakout for Cisco’s CCDA is not included in this survey’s charts. As in previous years, while we had enough readers reporting holding the CCDA to achieve a statistically valid average, the vast majority of these readers also hold higher-level Cisco certifications. So once again we chose to calculate those salaries as part of those more premium titles, presuming that the latter would have a greater impact on salary than the CCDA itself. 2. Not enough readers surveyed held the CCIP or Cisco’s CCVP to get a statically valid average, which is why those two titles are not broken out in this or other charts in this survey.
chart 1: Average Base Salary by Certification
CCNA $76,500 $60,000 $88,421 $60,000 $98,424 $88,000 CCSP $93,955 $116,905 $102,000 $87,247
2006-2007 Average 2004 Average
CCNP
CCDP
CCIE (All) CCSP
2 | 2006-2007 | TCPmag.com |
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With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the results. As you can see from Chart #1 on page 2, nlike previous TCPmag.com Cisco’s CCNA took a major jump, from an surveys, this year’s survey was average of $60,000 in 2004 to a bit over managed internally by the Redmond $76,000 in 2006—a rise of 26 percent. Media Group and Rita Zurcher. That’s huge, but it’s a rise that’s taken place Participants of this survey, most of over a period of a years between surveys, them TCPmag.com newsletter during which the value of Cisco-related subscribers, were invited to attend by technology skills has improved as well as e-mail. We received a total of 780 the IT the job market overall. Cisco’s also responses from participants working done a lot in the last few years to raise the in the U.S. These were the responses perceived value of its lower- and mid-level analyzed for this survey. Cisco certifications (like adding hands-on quesSystems had no role in the deploytions)—giving titles like the CCNA a good ment or analysis of this survey. reputation in the marketplace. And the CCNA isn’t the only title up— across the board, the various Cisco certifications made major gains over the last year, with CCIE jumping 14 percent between this year’s survey and 2004, and the CCNP jumped a whopping 31 percent in the same amount of time, giving those of you that hold the title an average salary of more than $88,000 a year. The new titles added to this year’s survey—Cisco CCSP and Cisco’s Qualified Specialist—showed healthy numbers, as well, with a $93,995 average for the security title and an $87,247 average for those you of holding one or more of Cisco’s 20-plus Qualified Specialist certifications. (For a breakdown of the average salary by specialty see the bonus charts later in this PDF.)
Methodology
U
chart 2: Average Base Salary by Experience Level
10 or more years 7 up to 10 years 5 up to 7 years 3 up to 5 years 2 up to 3 years 1 up to 2 years Under 1 year $53,004 $43,220 $47,070 $50,930 $78,755 $68,659 $67,191
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chart 3: 2006-2007 Survey Averages
Base Salary Raise/Increase Bonus Age Percentage with 10 or More Years IT Experience Average Not Holding Any Cisco Certification Male vs. Female Percentage with a 4-year degree Overall Satisfaction with Compensation, 5 being best $71,150 $5,939 $7,697 40.9 years 51.2% $69,818 9:1 44% 3.3
Still, many factors play into these averages, so let’s delve deeper into those.
Experience Is Key
As mentioned earlier, your experience in the IT field is going to have a major impact on your salary. Chart #2 on page 4 breaks out the average salary by years of experience in the IT field of all readers who participated in this survey. This chart shows that those with 10 or more years of experience earn an average of $78,755—significantly more than those with less than five years of experience, who rest in the $40K to mid-$50K range. With more than $20,000 splitting those last five years, you can see the difference experience brings. Notice that those with less than one year of experience are reporting a higher average than those in the range of one to three years. This could be yet another indication of the rise of average Cisco-related salaries overall during the past few surveys—after the downturn a few years ago (see our
chart 4: How Has Your Salary Changed in the Last 12 Months?
29.9%
4.8%
65.3%
No Change Decreased $13,538 Increased $5,939
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chart 5: What Would Have the Biggest Impact on Improving Your Current Salary?
Obtaining a new Cisco certification Working for a different company Moving to a different area Doing a different job in the same company Other (please specify) None of the above
39.1% 30.5% 8.2% 7.2% 3.7% 11.2%
2004 Salary Survey), employers appear to now be willing to pay more for Cisco-related skills—something that may be reflected in the salary of those hired within the last 12 months versus those who were hired when salaries didn’t average as high Still, experience is probably the most significant factor in any salary. (For further breakdowns of average base salary by experience per certification, see the breakdown charts later in this PDF.)
chart 6: If There Was a Change in Your Salary, Was It Due to a Change in Employers?
Other Base Salary Factors
But experience isn’t the only factor—you also need to know where you fall compared to the rest of those who took this survey. Chart #3 on page 5 shows the average salary and other statistics of all participants. Our average survey participant earned $71,150. There were a significant number of noncertified professionals taking this survey, and the average base salary for those without certifications is slightly less than those holding a certification. Also note that, as mentioned earlier, more than 50 percent of those who took this survey reported having 10 or more years experience in the IT industry. As mentioned earlier, other certifications held can also affect the average salary by certification. For example, while the average base salary for all participants holding a CCNA is $76,500, when we looked at
17.5%
82.5%
Yes
No
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Chart 7: Base Salary, Job Title
IT Project Lead (non-supervisory) Technical/Marketing/Consulting IT Engineer Trainer Executive, Director or C-level Consulting Systems Engineer Management (supervisory) Senior Network Engineer Network Architect/Design Consultant Network (support) Engineer Systems Engineer IT Analyst Network Operations $76,200 $73,694 $73,350 $72,876 $72,531 $72,045 $71,356 $71,303 $71,147 $70,005 $68,073 $67,880 $66,287
NOTE: For some titles, we did not have enough respondents to produce statistically valid results. Those titles are not shown in the chart above.
the average for those holding only the CCNA, that average drops to $68,332—a figure more in line with what one would expect for someone holding only the first level of Cisco certification. Another factor is that salaries themselves appear to be going up across the board, with or without certification. Most readers—65.3 percent—saw their base salary rise during the past 12 months, with an average increase of $5,939, or approximately 8 percent of the average salary, as shown in Chart #4 on page 5. While certification is never the be-all, end-all of any salary, almost 40 percent of you said that gaining a new Cisco certification would be the biggest factor in improving your current salary, as shown in Chart #5 on page 6.
51 percent of you said that your company would be hiring more IT professionals in the next 12 months
7 | 2006-2007 | TCPmag.com |
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chart 8: Base Salary by Cisco Certification and Region
Average CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) $76,550 $88,421 $98,424 $93,955 $116,905 $87,247 West $74,297 $90,923 $92,623 $82,371 $115,429 $88,818 Midwest $72,880 $77,340 $93,000 * $102,750 $75,933 South $78,698 $94,117 $102,659 $101,850 $122,933 $96,852 Northeast $79,343 $86,227 $98,053 * $107,500 $75,833
* = Not enough respondents to compile information for this data field. Where Is Your Region? West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. Northeast includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
chart 9: Why Did You Pursue Your Most Recent Cisco Certification?
Personal goal Distinguish my skills from others To get a better job Promotion/raise from current employer To obtain employment Required for job Recommended by friend/boss, etc. For a project I'm working on Required to attain Cisco Partner status Other Peer pressure To access priority support
30.7% 17.8% 15.5% 9.5% 6.5% 5.4% 4.1% 3.8% 3.3% 1.6% 1% 1%
Compare this to answers to the same question in our 2004 salary survey. Back then, 37 percent of you said that working for a different company would have the biggest impact, and only 19 percent of you said that obtaining a new Cisco certification would have the biggest impact. In fact, only 17.5 percent of you who saw an increase in the past year said it was due to a change in employers (see Chart #6 on page 6). The exact job you hold is, of course, another factor. Chart #7 on page 7 shows average salaries by title. Location can (and will) play a major part in what you earn. Chart #8 above shows the averages per certification by region. (A breakdown of the region follows—check this if you’re not sure where you fall.)
chart 10: Who Paid for the Last Training and/or Certification Program You Attended?
3.2% 1.7% 6% 28.8%
60.3%
More from Our Survey
So why do people get certified? As shown in Chart #9 on the left, the primary reason cited is to fulfill a personal goal. With employers seeming to value certifi-
Self Company Jointly, Self and Company Other Not Applicable
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chart 11: How Do You Believe Your Salary or Individual Gross Earnings Compares with Others in IT in Your State?
cation, it’s not that surprising that employers also now appear to be more willing to pay for the certification process than in years past. When we asked you in 2004 who paid for your last certification or training, 42 percent of you said that your employer picked up the tab. This year, that number jumped to a bit more than 60 percent, as shown in Chart #10 on page 9. Although salaries are up, that doesn’t mean you all necessarily feel that you’re riding a wave. When we asked you about how you feel your salary ranks compared to others in your state, as Chart #11 on the left shows, only 19 percent of you felt it was above average, with a full 37.2 percent saying it was below average. According to Chart #12 below left, those of you who said their salary was above average, only 27.8 percent credited it to certification—46.1 percent said that certification definitely wasn’t a factor, and 26.1 percent said they weren’t sure: As for the job outlook, 51 percent of you said that your company would be hiring more IT professionals in the next 12 months—down just a few points from our last survey, where it was 54 percent, as shown in Chart #13 above right. For those positions, more than half of you said that Cisco certifications will be required for some or all of those positions.
Chart 13: Will Your Company Hire More IT Professionals in the Next 12 Months?
19.2% 37.2%
23.3%
51.4% 25.3%
43.6%
Above Average Average Below Average
Yes No Don’t Know
chart 12: If Above Average, Do You Believe That It Is a Result of Your Certification(s) in Any Way?
chart 14: Will Cisco Certification Be Part of the Qualifications?
27.8%
26.1%
Final Thoughts
Even though those with Cisco certifications appear to be riding high right now, it's important to remember all the other factors that go into the average salaries— and that they are averages. Experience, job skills (Cisco-related and others), your employer, your location—all of these will play heavily into what you earn. Also remember that the job market—in your area and overall—can turn on a dime. So if you’re new to IT (especially if you’re new to IT), don’t think you’ll be able to jump in and earn exactly what people in this survey are; the next 12 months may bring something complete different. TCP
19.8%
23.5%
29.3%
27.5%
46.1%
Yes No Not Sure
Yes No For Some Positions Don’t Know
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chart 15a: Salary by Experience, Job Title
Consulting Systems Engineer Technical/Marketing/Consulting Systems Administrator Executive, Director or C-level Network Architect/Design Consultant Trainer Management (supervisory) Senior Network Engineer Network (support) Engineer IT Analyst IT Engineer Network Operations Systems Engineer 10+ Years $89,864 $82,180 $81,596 $80,033 $78,843 $77,473 $77,136 $76,969 $76,636 $76,573 $76,310 $73,864 $71,264 7-10 Years * * $63,610 * * * $62,008 $72,889 $73,588 * * $65,182 $68,325 5-7 Years * * $64,655 * * * * * $68,835 * $77,500 * $66,778 3-5 Years * * * * * * * * $49,963 * * * * 2-3 Years * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1-2 Years * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* = Unfortunately, because more TCPmag.com readers then ever now have 10 or more years of experience, we were not able to get enough results to provide statistically valid information for certain areas of this chart, particularly the lower experience levels
chart 15b: Salary by Experience, Certification
CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) 10+ Years $82,280 $96,164 $102,493 $94,392 $128,426 $80,977 7-10 Years $74,713 $86,151 $87,202 * * $68,659 5-7 Years $75,447 $84,722 * * * $67,248 3-5 Years $61,902 * * * * $53,097 2-3 Years * * * * * $43,220 1-2 Years * * * * * $47,070
* = Unfortunately, because more TCPmag.com readers then ever now have 10 or more years of experience, we were not able to get enough results to provide statistically valid information for certain areas of this chart, particularly the lower experience levels
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chart 16: Average CCIE Base Salary by Specialty
CCIE, Routing and Switching $123,545 CCIE, Security $113,333 CCIE, Service Provider $103,333
NOTE: Only those Cisco CCIE specialties for which we had enough respondents to produce statistically valid results are listed above.
chart 17: Average Qualified Specialist Base Salary by Specialty
Cisco IPS Specialist Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Design Specialist Cisco Partner-Only Specialist (any) Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialist Cisco IP Communications Express Specialist Cisco VPN Specialist Cisco Information Security Specialist Cisco IP Communications Support Specialist Cisco Qualified Specialist (All) Cisco Firewall Specialist Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Support Specialist
$103,333 $98,470 $98,100 $94,875 $93,875 $93,027 $92,000 $87,778 $87,247 $86,520 $81,917
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chart 18: What Methods Have You Used in the Past 12 Months for Training and Certification?
Books On the Job Cisco Documentation Cisco Press Materials Exam-simulation Products CD-based Software Certification Web Sites Home-based Lab Router/Equipment Simulators Online/Distance/ Web training/e-training Webinars/Webcasts Instructor-led Training at a Cisco Partner Conferences Boot Camps College or University Courses Videos Instructor-led Training at a Non-Cisco Partner Study Groups
chart 19: Average Bonuses by Certification (For Those Who Received Bonuses
CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP $20,800 $16,658 $14,373 $13,167 $11,496 $11,286
83.70% 49.60% 45.50% 41.60% 35.60% 33.40% 32.70% 24.30% 20.70% 19.60% 17.60% 17.20% 15.50% 11% 10.10% 8.80% 8.20% 5.90%
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chart 20: Average Salary by Technology Expertise
Voice Call Control Systems Voice Application Systems Voice Gateways Voice Software Optical Network Management Software Universal Gateways Video & Video Networking Software InterWorks Software WAN Switching Software and Firmware Optical Platforms Customer Contact Software IP Phones Content Networking Devices or Software Routers Access Software IOS Software Interfaces and Modules Security and VPN Devices/Software Storage Networking Products/Software Network Management Hubs & Concentrators Routers Switches Mobile Wireless Software LAN Software Internet/Web Wireless LAN Products Modems Cable Products
$93,855 $92,024 $91,340 $90,753 $85,387 $85,091 $84,690 $82,558 $81,606 $80,593 $79,998 $79,977 $79,766 $78,839 $78,595 $78,196 $77,736 $77,019 $76,443 $74,190 $74,143 $73,862 $73,841 $73,594 $72,930 $72,818 $72,733 $72,678 $70,938
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chart 21: Average Salary by State, by Cisco Certification
Base Salary $68,311 $76,500 $68,600 $52,000 $74,991 $99,600 $71,333 $69,500 $76,372 $70,250 $52,500 $50,000 $65,626 $59,615 $68,620 $60,531 $52,900 $72,830 $48,000 $91,222 $70,344 $71,892 $48,278 $52,177 $68,212 $77,333 $73,600 $50,000 $80,470 $72,986 $80,990 $62,034 $30,000 $62,007 $71,096 $69,656 $67,103 $95,000 $55,736 * $81,757 $74,741 $69,900 $44,500 $85,998 $66,783 $86,334 $82,267 $67,189 $52,436 Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $81,875 * * * * * * * * * * * $100,000 * * * * * * * $97,925 * * * * * * * *
State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington, D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Yes Cert $67,333 $71,667 $67,721 $59,000 $76,238 $99,040 $60,000 $74,375 $78,758 $67,000 $52,500 $50,000 $64,680 $54,444 $77,167 $61,400 $46,850 $77,410 $48,000 $92,214 $62,696 $75,824 $48,000 $56,707 $69,773 $75,500 $74,000 $50,000 $86,292 $72,986 $83,790 $62,395 $30,000 $60,108 $71,229 $63,930 $66,696 $95,000 $52,900 * $79,160 $74,020 $69,900 $44,500 $90,671 $73,618 $79,800 $82,267 $75,875 $45,554
No Cert $69,289 $91,000 $73,000 $38,000 $71,845 $108,000 $94,000 $50,000 $64,041 $76,750 * * $67,754 $71,250 $55,800 $59,083 $65,000 $68,250 * $87,750 $79,267 $65,714 $48,417 $25,000 $56,500 $81,000 $73,333 * $65,500 * $71,750 $60,880 * $74,667 $70,500 $79,200 $68,144 $95,000 $68,500 * $88,250 $80,238 * * $73,314 $40,811 $102,668 * $54,159 $48,264
CCNA * * * * $76,498 * * * $80,364 $72,444 * * $71,885 * * * * * * $95,900 * $77,125 * * $75,167 * * * $90,208 * $84,059 $65,750 * $72,929 * * $76,909 * * * * $82,552 * * $84,827 $79,386 * * * *
CCNP * * * * $93,930 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $101,550 * * * * * * * * * * $99,779 * * * * * * * *
CCDP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $103,267 * * * * * * * *
CCSP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CCIE (all) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* = not enough data to produce results Figures in gray indicate results may not be statistically valid due to insufficient data.
15 | 2006-2007 | TCPmag.com |
IT INFLUENCER SERIES
TCPmag.com Salary Survey
2006-2007
CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The Cisco Certifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Average Salary by Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Experience Is Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Other Base Salary Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 More from Our Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Additional Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
TCPMag.com
Internetworking Salary Survey
Salaries are up—way up!—across the board for those of you holding Cisco certification titles, with both starting salaries and top-tier credentials bringing in significantly more than ever before.
By TCPmag.com Editors
2006-2007
The Cisco Certifications
ot familiar with Cisco’s family of internetworking certifications? Below is a breakdown of each title plus links for more information from Cisco: • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA): One of Cisco’s two entry-level or “Associate” titles, this one- or two-exam option focusing on networking skills is one of the most popular of all of the company’s credentials. • Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA): The second of Cisco’s two entry-level certifications, this one focuses on the design aspects of networking. • Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP): Commonly the next step after the CCNA, this certification focuses on mid-level (or as Cisco likes to call it, the “Professional-level” internetworking skills. • Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP): The mid-level next step for the CCDA. • Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP): A “Professional” level title for those who want to step up focusing on security instead of general routing and switching (CCNP) or design (CCDP). Requires passing five exams. • Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP) and Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP): Two relatively new mid-level titles from Cisco give candidates other options for their professional level. Due to not enough readers holding these certifications yet, we were not able to include them.
N
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I
t’s been more than two years since we last conducted the last TCPmag.com Internetworking Salary Survey. In that time, if you’re an IT professional working with Cisco technology and you haven’t seen your salary rise, then you’re in a small minority—at least compared to TCPmag.com’s readership. Across the board, averages for all Cisco certifications are up—and not just by a few thousand. For example, the average salary in 2004 for those of you who held a CCNA was $60,000—now, that number has jumped to a little more than $76,000. Higher-end Cisco certifications are also doing well, with, for example, the average CCIE reporting a salary of a little more than $116,000, up from $102,000 a few years ago. In fact, based on our history of doing this survey (since 2001), if you’re a professional working with Cisco technologies and holding a Cisco certification, on average you’re earning more than you ever did before. Of course, many factors go into these figures, including other certifications held, where one lives, technical specialties and—with more than 50 percent of readers taking this survey having worked more than 10 years in IT (you all are a seasoned bunch!)—experience. We’ll break it all down for you below, showing you the averages based on a number of different factors to help you best determine where you should fall.
Average Salary by Certification
Let’s first jump into what you come to this salary survey for: the average salary for those holding various Cisco certifications. Below is Chart #1, which breaks out the certification averages for the various Cisco certifications. We’ve also included data showing the averages from our last survey published in early 2004. Some important notes: 1. A breakout for Cisco’s CCDA is not included in this survey’s charts. As in previous years, while we had enough readers reporting holding the CCDA to achieve a statistically valid average, the vast majority of these readers also hold higher-level Cisco certifications. So once again we chose to calculate those salaries as part of those more premium titles, presuming that the latter would have a greater impact on salary than the CCDA itself. 2. Not enough readers surveyed held the CCIP or Cisco’s CCVP to get a statically valid average, which is why those two titles are not broken out in this or other charts in this survey.
chart 1: Average Base Salary by Certification
CCNA $76,500 $60,000 $88,421 $60,000 $98,424 $88,000 CCSP $93,955 $116,905 $102,000 $87,247
2006-2007 Average 2004 Average
CCNP
CCDP
CCIE (All) CCSP
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With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the results. As you can see from Chart #1 on page 2, nlike previous TCPmag.com Cisco’s CCNA took a major jump, from an surveys, this year’s survey was average of $60,000 in 2004 to a bit over managed internally by the Redmond $76,000 in 2006—a rise of 26 percent. Media Group and Rita Zurcher. That’s huge, but it’s a rise that’s taken place Participants of this survey, most of over a period of a years between surveys, them TCPmag.com newsletter during which the value of Cisco-related subscribers, were invited to attend by technology skills has improved as well as e-mail. We received a total of 780 the IT the job market overall. Cisco’s also responses from participants working done a lot in the last few years to raise the in the U.S. These were the responses perceived value of its lower- and mid-level analyzed for this survey. Cisco certifications (like adding hands-on quesSystems had no role in the deploytions)—giving titles like the CCNA a good ment or analysis of this survey. reputation in the marketplace. And the CCNA isn’t the only title up— across the board, the various Cisco certifications made major gains over the last year, with CCIE jumping 14 percent between this year’s survey and 2004, and the CCNP jumped a whopping 31 percent in the same amount of time, giving those of you that hold the title an average salary of more than $88,000 a year. The new titles added to this year’s survey—Cisco CCSP and Cisco’s Qualified Specialist—showed healthy numbers, as well, with a $93,995 average for the security title and an $87,247 average for those you of holding one or more of Cisco’s 20-plus Qualified Specialist certifications. (For a breakdown of the average salary by specialty see the bonus charts later in this PDF.)
Methodology
U
chart 2: Average Base Salary by Experience Level
10 or more years 7 up to 10 years 5 up to 7 years 3 up to 5 years 2 up to 3 years 1 up to 2 years Under 1 year $53,004 $43,220 $47,070 $50,930 $78,755 $68,659 $67,191
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chart 3: 2006-2007 Survey Averages
Base Salary Raise/Increase Bonus Age Percentage with 10 or More Years IT Experience Average Not Holding Any Cisco Certification Male vs. Female Percentage with a 4-year degree Overall Satisfaction with Compensation, 5 being best $71,150 $5,939 $7,697 40.9 years 51.2% $69,818 9:1 44% 3.3
Still, many factors play into these averages, so let’s delve deeper into those.
Experience Is Key
As mentioned earlier, your experience in the IT field is going to have a major impact on your salary. Chart #2 on page 4 breaks out the average salary by years of experience in the IT field of all readers who participated in this survey. This chart shows that those with 10 or more years of experience earn an average of $78,755—significantly more than those with less than five years of experience, who rest in the $40K to mid-$50K range. With more than $20,000 splitting those last five years, you can see the difference experience brings. Notice that those with less than one year of experience are reporting a higher average than those in the range of one to three years. This could be yet another indication of the rise of average Cisco-related salaries overall during the past few surveys—after the downturn a few years ago (see our
chart 4: How Has Your Salary Changed in the Last 12 Months?
29.9%
4.8%
65.3%
No Change Decreased $13,538 Increased $5,939
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chart 5: What Would Have the Biggest Impact on Improving Your Current Salary?
Obtaining a new Cisco certification Working for a different company Moving to a different area Doing a different job in the same company Other (please specify) None of the above
39.1% 30.5% 8.2% 7.2% 3.7% 11.2%
2004 Salary Survey), employers appear to now be willing to pay more for Cisco-related skills—something that may be reflected in the salary of those hired within the last 12 months versus those who were hired when salaries didn’t average as high Still, experience is probably the most significant factor in any salary. (For further breakdowns of average base salary by experience per certification, see the breakdown charts later in this PDF.)
chart 6: If There Was a Change in Your Salary, Was It Due to a Change in Employers?
Other Base Salary Factors
But experience isn’t the only factor—you also need to know where you fall compared to the rest of those who took this survey. Chart #3 on page 5 shows the average salary and other statistics of all participants. Our average survey participant earned $71,150. There were a significant number of noncertified professionals taking this survey, and the average base salary for those without certifications is slightly less than those holding a certification. Also note that, as mentioned earlier, more than 50 percent of those who took this survey reported having 10 or more years experience in the IT industry. As mentioned earlier, other certifications held can also affect the average salary by certification. For example, while the average base salary for all participants holding a CCNA is $76,500, when we looked at
17.5%
82.5%
Yes
No
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Chart 7: Base Salary, Job Title
IT Project Lead (non-supervisory) Technical/Marketing/Consulting IT Engineer Trainer Executive, Director or C-level Consulting Systems Engineer Management (supervisory) Senior Network Engineer Network Architect/Design Consultant Network (support) Engineer Systems Engineer IT Analyst Network Operations $76,200 $73,694 $73,350 $72,876 $72,531 $72,045 $71,356 $71,303 $71,147 $70,005 $68,073 $67,880 $66,287
NOTE: For some titles, we did not have enough respondents to produce statistically valid results. Those titles are not shown in the chart above.
the average for those holding only the CCNA, that average drops to $68,332—a figure more in line with what one would expect for someone holding only the first level of Cisco certification. Another factor is that salaries themselves appear to be going up across the board, with or without certification. Most readers—65.3 percent—saw their base salary rise during the past 12 months, with an average increase of $5,939, or approximately 8 percent of the average salary, as shown in Chart #4 on page 5. While certification is never the be-all, end-all of any salary, almost 40 percent of you said that gaining a new Cisco certification would be the biggest factor in improving your current salary, as shown in Chart #5 on page 6.
51 percent of you said that your company would be hiring more IT professionals in the next 12 months
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chart 8: Base Salary by Cisco Certification and Region
Average CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) $76,550 $88,421 $98,424 $93,955 $116,905 $87,247 West $74,297 $90,923 $92,623 $82,371 $115,429 $88,818 Midwest $72,880 $77,340 $93,000 * $102,750 $75,933 South $78,698 $94,117 $102,659 $101,850 $122,933 $96,852 Northeast $79,343 $86,227 $98,053 * $107,500 $75,833
* = Not enough respondents to compile information for this data field. Where Is Your Region? West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. Northeast includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
chart 9: Why Did You Pursue Your Most Recent Cisco Certification?
Personal goal Distinguish my skills from others To get a better job Promotion/raise from current employer To obtain employment Required for job Recommended by friend/boss, etc. For a project I'm working on Required to attain Cisco Partner status Other Peer pressure To access priority support
30.7% 17.8% 15.5% 9.5% 6.5% 5.4% 4.1% 3.8% 3.3% 1.6% 1% 1%
Compare this to answers to the same question in our 2004 salary survey. Back then, 37 percent of you said that working for a different company would have the biggest impact, and only 19 percent of you said that obtaining a new Cisco certification would have the biggest impact. In fact, only 17.5 percent of you who saw an increase in the past year said it was due to a change in employers (see Chart #6 on page 6). The exact job you hold is, of course, another factor. Chart #7 on page 7 shows average salaries by title. Location can (and will) play a major part in what you earn. Chart #8 above shows the averages per certification by region. (A breakdown of the region follows—check this if you’re not sure where you fall.)
chart 10: Who Paid for the Last Training and/or Certification Program You Attended?
3.2% 1.7% 6% 28.8%
60.3%
More from Our Survey
So why do people get certified? As shown in Chart #9 on the left, the primary reason cited is to fulfill a personal goal. With employers seeming to value certifi-
Self Company Jointly, Self and Company Other Not Applicable
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chart 11: How Do You Believe Your Salary or Individual Gross Earnings Compares with Others in IT in Your State?
cation, it’s not that surprising that employers also now appear to be more willing to pay for the certification process than in years past. When we asked you in 2004 who paid for your last certification or training, 42 percent of you said that your employer picked up the tab. This year, that number jumped to a bit more than 60 percent, as shown in Chart #10 on page 9. Although salaries are up, that doesn’t mean you all necessarily feel that you’re riding a wave. When we asked you about how you feel your salary ranks compared to others in your state, as Chart #11 on the left shows, only 19 percent of you felt it was above average, with a full 37.2 percent saying it was below average. According to Chart #12 below left, those of you who said their salary was above average, only 27.8 percent credited it to certification—46.1 percent said that certification definitely wasn’t a factor, and 26.1 percent said they weren’t sure: As for the job outlook, 51 percent of you said that your company would be hiring more IT professionals in the next 12 months—down just a few points from our last survey, where it was 54 percent, as shown in Chart #13 above right. For those positions, more than half of you said that Cisco certifications will be required for some or all of those positions.
Chart 13: Will Your Company Hire More IT Professionals in the Next 12 Months?
19.2% 37.2%
23.3%
51.4% 25.3%
43.6%
Above Average Average Below Average
Yes No Don’t Know
chart 12: If Above Average, Do You Believe That It Is a Result of Your Certification(s) in Any Way?
chart 14: Will Cisco Certification Be Part of the Qualifications?
27.8%
26.1%
Final Thoughts
Even though those with Cisco certifications appear to be riding high right now, it's important to remember all the other factors that go into the average salaries— and that they are averages. Experience, job skills (Cisco-related and others), your employer, your location—all of these will play heavily into what you earn. Also remember that the job market—in your area and overall—can turn on a dime. So if you’re new to IT (especially if you’re new to IT), don’t think you’ll be able to jump in and earn exactly what people in this survey are; the next 12 months may bring something complete different. TCP
19.8%
23.5%
29.3%
27.5%
46.1%
Yes No Not Sure
Yes No For Some Positions Don’t Know
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chart 15a: Salary by Experience, Job Title
Consulting Systems Engineer Technical/Marketing/Consulting Systems Administrator Executive, Director or C-level Network Architect/Design Consultant Trainer Management (supervisory) Senior Network Engineer Network (support) Engineer IT Analyst IT Engineer Network Operations Systems Engineer 10+ Years $89,864 $82,180 $81,596 $80,033 $78,843 $77,473 $77,136 $76,969 $76,636 $76,573 $76,310 $73,864 $71,264 7-10 Years * * $63,610 * * * $62,008 $72,889 $73,588 * * $65,182 $68,325 5-7 Years * * $64,655 * * * * * $68,835 * $77,500 * $66,778 3-5 Years * * * * * * * * $49,963 * * * * 2-3 Years * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1-2 Years * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* = Unfortunately, because more TCPmag.com readers then ever now have 10 or more years of experience, we were not able to get enough results to provide statistically valid information for certain areas of this chart, particularly the lower experience levels
chart 15b: Salary by Experience, Certification
CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) 10+ Years $82,280 $96,164 $102,493 $94,392 $128,426 $80,977 7-10 Years $74,713 $86,151 $87,202 * * $68,659 5-7 Years $75,447 $84,722 * * * $67,248 3-5 Years $61,902 * * * * $53,097 2-3 Years * * * * * $43,220 1-2 Years * * * * * $47,070
* = Unfortunately, because more TCPmag.com readers then ever now have 10 or more years of experience, we were not able to get enough results to provide statistically valid information for certain areas of this chart, particularly the lower experience levels
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chart 16: Average CCIE Base Salary by Specialty
CCIE, Routing and Switching $123,545 CCIE, Security $113,333 CCIE, Service Provider $103,333
NOTE: Only those Cisco CCIE specialties for which we had enough respondents to produce statistically valid results are listed above.
chart 17: Average Qualified Specialist Base Salary by Specialty
Cisco IPS Specialist Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Design Specialist Cisco Partner-Only Specialist (any) Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialist Cisco IP Communications Express Specialist Cisco VPN Specialist Cisco Information Security Specialist Cisco IP Communications Support Specialist Cisco Qualified Specialist (All) Cisco Firewall Specialist Cisco Advanced Wireless LAN Support Specialist
$103,333 $98,470 $98,100 $94,875 $93,875 $93,027 $92,000 $87,778 $87,247 $86,520 $81,917
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chart 18: What Methods Have You Used in the Past 12 Months for Training and Certification?
Books On the Job Cisco Documentation Cisco Press Materials Exam-simulation Products CD-based Software Certification Web Sites Home-based Lab Router/Equipment Simulators Online/Distance/ Web training/e-training Webinars/Webcasts Instructor-led Training at a Cisco Partner Conferences Boot Camps College or University Courses Videos Instructor-led Training at a Non-Cisco Partner Study Groups
chart 19: Average Bonuses by Certification (For Those Who Received Bonuses
CCIE (all) Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) CCNA CCNP CCDP CCSP $20,800 $16,658 $14,373 $13,167 $11,496 $11,286
83.70% 49.60% 45.50% 41.60% 35.60% 33.40% 32.70% 24.30% 20.70% 19.60% 17.60% 17.20% 15.50% 11% 10.10% 8.80% 8.20% 5.90%
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chart 20: Average Salary by Technology Expertise
Voice Call Control Systems Voice Application Systems Voice Gateways Voice Software Optical Network Management Software Universal Gateways Video & Video Networking Software InterWorks Software WAN Switching Software and Firmware Optical Platforms Customer Contact Software IP Phones Content Networking Devices or Software Routers Access Software IOS Software Interfaces and Modules Security and VPN Devices/Software Storage Networking Products/Software Network Management Hubs & Concentrators Routers Switches Mobile Wireless Software LAN Software Internet/Web Wireless LAN Products Modems Cable Products
$93,855 $92,024 $91,340 $90,753 $85,387 $85,091 $84,690 $82,558 $81,606 $80,593 $79,998 $79,977 $79,766 $78,839 $78,595 $78,196 $77,736 $77,019 $76,443 $74,190 $74,143 $73,862 $73,841 $73,594 $72,930 $72,818 $72,733 $72,678 $70,938
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chart 21: Average Salary by State, by Cisco Certification
Base Salary $68,311 $76,500 $68,600 $52,000 $74,991 $99,600 $71,333 $69,500 $76,372 $70,250 $52,500 $50,000 $65,626 $59,615 $68,620 $60,531 $52,900 $72,830 $48,000 $91,222 $70,344 $71,892 $48,278 $52,177 $68,212 $77,333 $73,600 $50,000 $80,470 $72,986 $80,990 $62,034 $30,000 $62,007 $71,096 $69,656 $67,103 $95,000 $55,736 * $81,757 $74,741 $69,900 $44,500 $85,998 $66,783 $86,334 $82,267 $67,189 $52,436 Cisco Qualified Specialist (all) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $81,875 * * * * * * * * * * * $100,000 * * * * * * * $97,925 * * * * * * * *
State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington, D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Yes Cert $67,333 $71,667 $67,721 $59,000 $76,238 $99,040 $60,000 $74,375 $78,758 $67,000 $52,500 $50,000 $64,680 $54,444 $77,167 $61,400 $46,850 $77,410 $48,000 $92,214 $62,696 $75,824 $48,000 $56,707 $69,773 $75,500 $74,000 $50,000 $86,292 $72,986 $83,790 $62,395 $30,000 $60,108 $71,229 $63,930 $66,696 $95,000 $52,900 * $79,160 $74,020 $69,900 $44,500 $90,671 $73,618 $79,800 $82,267 $75,875 $45,554
No Cert $69,289 $91,000 $73,000 $38,000 $71,845 $108,000 $94,000 $50,000 $64,041 $76,750 * * $67,754 $71,250 $55,800 $59,083 $65,000 $68,250 * $87,750 $79,267 $65,714 $48,417 $25,000 $56,500 $81,000 $73,333 * $65,500 * $71,750 $60,880 * $74,667 $70,500 $79,200 $68,144 $95,000 $68,500 * $88,250 $80,238 * * $73,314 $40,811 $102,668 * $54,159 $48,264
CCNA * * * * $76,498 * * * $80,364 $72,444 * * $71,885 * * * * * * $95,900 * $77,125 * * $75,167 * * * $90,208 * $84,059 $65,750 * $72,929 * * $76,909 * * * * $82,552 * * $84,827 $79,386 * * * *
CCNP * * * * $93,930 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $101,550 * * * * * * * * * * $99,779 * * * * * * * *
CCDP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * $103,267 * * * * * * * *
CCSP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CCIE (all) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* = not enough data to produce results Figures in gray indicate results may not be statistically valid due to insufficient data.
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