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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

The Amazon Web Services certification tree has three branches at the associate level, including AWS Certified Developer - Associate (No. 10 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list). If you're looking to become a developer in the flourishing AWS cloud computing ecosystem, then this is the credential that employers will want to see.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $150,000
Median Annual Salary: $152,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 12.8 percent
Very Satisfied: 50 percent
Satisfied: 25 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 12.2 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $74,470
Median Annual Salary: $57,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 11 percent
Very Satisfied: 10 percent
Satisfied: 30 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 40 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 9 percent

Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominates the global cloud services market. So it's not all that surprising that, while nearly 62 percent of AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders who participated in the survey live and work in the United States, we did hear from credential holders in seven other countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the Philippines, and Singapore.

There are doubtless female credential holders in the wider AWS universe, but none of them participated in the Salary Survey: 100 percent of the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders we heard from are men. More than 40 percent of those individuals are younger than 45, either between the ages of 25 and 34 (15.4 percent) or between the ages of 35 and 44 (26.9 percent), with a further 38.5 percent between the ages of 45 and 54. The only old dogs who are learning AWS's new tricks are the 15.4 percent of respondents between the ages of 55 and 64, and the 3.8 percent who are between the ages of 65 and 74.

More than 92 percent of the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders who responded to the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of education completed by most AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders is either a bachelor's degree (30.8 percent of respondents), master's degree (50 percent), or associate's degree (11.5 percent). The outliers are the 7.7 percent of those surveyed who completed some level of technical training after high school.

Every single one of the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders who participated in the survey has a full-time job. For most, that means working either a standard 40-hours-per-week schedule (53.8 percent of those surveyed), putting in between 41 and 50 hours per week (15.5 percent), or going all out and spending more than 50 hours per week on the job (19.2 percent). Only a fortunate few have a full-time schedule that falls below the 40-hour threshold, working either between 31 and 39 hours per week (7.7 percent of those surveyed) or between 21 and 30 hours per week (3.8 percent).

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year forced a lot of certified IT professionals to learn to do their jobs remotely, a global trend that shows up here as well: 50 percent of the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders we surveyed work a full 40 hours per week from home, while 11.7 percent put in more than 40 hours per week without ever darkening the door of an office building. Roughly 20 percent are still doing most (or all) of their work in some sort of traditional workplace setting: 11.5 percent of those surveyed work from home 10 or fewer hours per week, while 7.7 percent work from home between 10 and 20 hours per week. The middle ground is occupied by the 11.3 percent of survey participants who work from home between 21 and 30 hours per week, and the 7.8 percent whose remote work hours are between 31 and 39 per week.

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders we heard from are employed at the senior specialist level (53.6 percent of respondents). The rest, in descending order, are either rank-and-file employees (14.3 percent of those surveyed), specialists (10.7 percent), managers (also 10.7 percent), directors (7.1 percent), or senior managers (3.6 percent).

More than half of the AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders who responded to the survey—53.6 percent of them, to be exact — are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of the certified skills for more than a decade. That rest are have been plying their certified skills for either between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (7.1 percent of respondents), between 3 and 5 years (17.9 percent), between 6 and 8 years (14.3 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (7.1 percent).

Finally, here's the view of AWS Certified Developer - Associate 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: 42.9 percent
Several times a week: 42.9 percent
Several times a month: 10.7 percent
Occasionally: 3.5 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 53.5 percent
Agree: 28.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.3 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 3.6 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 32.1 percent
Agree: 53.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 7.1 percent
Disagree: 7.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 35.7 percent
Agree: 35.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 21.5 percent
Disagree: 7.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

PAST AWS CERTIFIED DEVELOPER - ASSOCIATE DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2020

2019