Salary Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Cloud computing technology has become so ubiquitous so fast that we don't even think of it as being exceptional anymore. Do you remember the phrase "in the cloud?" Now try to remember the last time that you heard someone actually use it in a sentence. In 2021, the exception is things that are not in the cloud.

The biggest name in cloud computing is Amazon Web Services (AWS), and an excellent place to start for cloud technologists who want to increase their AWS fluency is the AWS certification program. The trunk of the AWS certification tree is the foundation-level AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner credential, No. 22 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $139,580
Median Annual Salary: $136,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 17.9 percent
Very Satisfied: 32.1 percent
Satisfied: 39.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 8.9 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 1.8 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $72,950
Median Annual Salary: $65,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 4.8 percent
Very Satisfied: 19.1 percent
Satisfied: 45.2 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 19 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 11.9 percent

A little more than half of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who participated in the Salary Survey are U.S. residents (57 percent), but we also heard from credential holders in 22 other countries: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Tech circles tend to be dominated by men, and male professionals account for 97 percent of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who participated in the survey. Most respondents, regardless of gender, are clustered around middle age, with roughly 61 percent of those surveyed either between the ages of 35 and 44 (32.7 percent) or between the ages of 45 and 54 (28.6 percent). The rest are either between the ages of 25 and 34 (24.5 percent of respondents) or between the ages of 55 and 64 (12.2 percent), with a tiny fraction still going strong after retirement age, either between the ages of 65 and 74 (1 percent) or age 75 and older (1 percent).

More than 90 percent of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who responded to the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of formal education completed by most AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders is either a bachelor's degree (41.8 percent), master's degree (39.9 percent), doctorate (5.1 percent), or associate's degree (8.2 percent). The outliers are the 2 percent of respondents who topped out at some level of post-high school technical training, the 2 percent who exited the realm of formal education after completing high school, and the 1 percent who are currently in the process of furthering their education.

A striking 99 percent of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who responded to the survey are employed full-time, with the remaining 1 percent out of work. Among those who have full-time jobs, most are at work either for the standard 40 hours per week (35.7 percent of respondents) or put in between 41 and 50 hours per week (44.9 percent). The remaining 20 percent of those surveyed are either carrying a heavy load, working more than 50 hours per week (14.3 percent), or getting off easy with a standard work week of between 39 and 31 hours per week (5.1 percent).

Since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who formerly had a desk at an office are spending most or all of their work schedule at home. A notable 79 percent of respondents don't ever leave the house for work, putting in either 40 hours per week from home (38.8 percent) or more than 40 hours per week from home (39.8 percent). Among the remaining 20 percent, 8.2 percent work from home between 31 and 39 hours per week and 5.1 percent work from home between 21 and 30 hours per week. That leaves just 8 percent spending at least half of their work hours at a traditional office, working from home either between 10 and 20 hours per week (3 percent) or fewer than 10 hours per week (5.1 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders we heard from, 33.7 percent of those surveyed, are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (19.6 percent), managers (15.9 percent), senior managers (11.2 percent), rank-and-file employees (8.4 percent), directors (7.5 percent of respondents), or executives (3.7 percent).

A little more than half (53.8 percent) of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who responded to the survey are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for more than a decade. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (9.4 percent of those surveyed), between 3 and 5 years (18.9 percent), between 6 and 8 years (13.2 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (4.7 percent).

Finally, here's the view of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders on key questions from the survey about how certification impacts job performance:

At my current job I use skills learned or enhanced through certification:
Several times a day: 54.8 percent
Several times a week: 28.3 percent
Several times a month: 11.3 percent
Occasionally: 2.8 percent
Rarely: 2.8 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 43.4 percent
Agree: 35.8 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 18 percent
Disagree: 2.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 32.1 percent
Agree: 51 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 11.3 percent
Disagree: 4.7 percent
Strongly Disagree: 0.9 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 33 percent
Agree: 42.5 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 19.8 percent
Disagree: 1.9 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.8 percent

PAST AWS CERTIFIED CLOUD PRACTITIONER DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2020

2019