Global Knowledge

By Ryan Day
The debate about certification’s value is over. Certifications are important now more than ever.
Training builds skills and certifications validate them. Employers and organizations will see that IT professionals have invested their time and energy to learn and become more valuable in the industry.
What are the advantages of certified personnel over their non-certified counterparts? Are they paid more? Are they better at their jobs? How does certifications affect the hiring process?
Let’s look at five facts about IT certifications. And how certification training can be of great value beyond skill validation and salary.

Certified personnel earn more
The numbers are not misleading: According to the Global Knowledge 2018 IT Skills and Salary Report (GKIT), North American certified IT professionals earn 22% more than their non-certified counterparts. This is equivalent to just below $16,000 in dollars. Who doesn’t want an extra 16-figure in their annual paycheck?

IT professionals who have achieved a new certification reported increases of 9 to 16%. The average U.S. percentage of all survey respondents, certified and not, was four percent.
Certification increases your pay. This is the simplified version.
However, if we look deeper, it becomes clear that the salary bump isn’t about the credential as such, but rather the knowledge gained through study and preparation. It’s all about the skills.
Are you looking to increase your salary? Check out our list of 15 top-paying IT certifications for 2018.

IT operations are improved by certified personnel. This helps to close the skills gap.
Our research shows that professionals with at least one certification are more productive than their counterparts. IT decision-makers insist that certified personnel excel at:
Client requirements met
Closing the organizational skills gap
Troubleshooting
Giving you an edge over your competition
Completing projects quickly

These individuals are paid more if they can deliver these organizational benefits. They should be. This productivity allows staff and departments to work more efficiently, improves IT operations, and in the end saves money.
The International Data Corporation (IDC), sponsored by Microsoft, conducted interviews with eight IT managers from eight organizations that have at least 25 employees who have IT-related certifications. These managers believe that IT certifications enable organizations to be more agile and achieve their business goals.
According to the whitepaper:
Certified application developers are almost 90% more productive than those without certifications and 60% more efficient than their counterparts who don’t have them.
Certified IT professionals can help reduce the unplanned downtime of servers by 56%
Certified IT professionals who are responsible for core IT activities are 17% less productive than non-certified staff.

Certification can help eliminate the skills gaps that plague IT departments around the world. It’s not surprising that a majority of respondents to our IT Skills and Salary Survey stated that their main reason for training is to learn new skills.
Skills gaps can delay deployments, increase operating expenses, and make it difficult for organizations to achieve their quality objectives. For departments with a shortage of IT expertise, certified IT professionals can provide a clear advantage in terms of skills.

More likely to be promoted are certified personnel
A strong indicator of a desire to advance your career is working towards and eventually achieving a new certification, at least according IT managers.
According to the IDC whitepaper, survey decision-makers believe that certified employees are more capable of handling difficult issues.