Highly paid IT certifications in 2014

Many IT certifications allow for an increase in salary in the types of jobs you are likely to find requesting candidates with the particular certifications needed. When researching certifications, remember to check the average salary paid to professionals with them in your country or worldwide, as this is usually something which is advertised alongside the certification details in a lot of providers descriptions.

For example, the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification from the ISACA IT group, is designed for those wishing to work within Information Systems Control, and has only been completed by approximately 18,000 professionals worldwide since its introduction in 2010. This highly prestigious qualification requires a minimum of three years’ experience in the related areas of IT and an exam, however once obtained this certification can secure salaries of approximately $119,000 a year on average in the US.

This is a certification which requires a great deal of work to complete, however once obtained can help you achieve a very comfortable lifestyle and upwardly mobile career in a prestigious field. Another certification from the ISACA group is the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), an older certification which has been around since the late 1970’s and has had a long time to become well-known and respected in the wider industry. This certification is aimed at those who wish to perfect their skills in monitoring, controlling, auditing and assessing IT and Business systems, testing such factors as the ability to comply with standards, manage vulnerable areas and innovate updates, processes and controls to improve systems over time.

This certification can open up jobs with salaries of up to $112,000 a year, and requires a minimum of five years’ experience in the related areas in order to even sit the exam. The Project Management Institute (PMI) offer a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, which is geared specifically towards project management style jobs. This is not an IT specific certification, although it can be highly relevant to those wishing to be in charge of large IT project building and management, and covers the initial planning, execution, monitoring, controlling and closing of any large project in detailed and broadly applicable ways.

This certification requires a minimum of 35 hours project management training as well as either 7,500 or 4,500 hours of experience in a related field depending on whether or not the candidate also has a bachelor’s degree from university. This certification usually leads into jobs with earning potential of up to $109,000 per year, and is also a great one for anybody wishing to become self-employed and manage their own business. A certification which focuses on a slightly different and unusual area is the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) from The International Council of E=Commerce Consultants (EC-Council).

This tests a candidates abilities to find vulnerabilities, holds and weak spots in an IT network using techniques traditionally utilised by hackers with the aim of finding and fixing deficiencies in order to improve the security of a network. The need for these type of professionals is increasingly high in modern IT and business, and so jobs which require this certification may offer salaries of up to $104,000 per year.