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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Some of the popular certs offered by CIW are introductory web design and development credentials that help newcomers to the field pick up necessary skills. The CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist (No. 75 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) is for web design and development pros with more experience.

As noted in the description of CIW's Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist training course, this credential assumes a certain level of fluency with certain design and development tools and processes: "This course teaches deep knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3, and thus assumes a certain amount of existing knowledge (such as basic HTML coding)."

Here's what the salary picture looks like for CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $54,560
Median Annual Salary: $55,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: [No responses]
Very Satisfied: 11.7 percent
Satisfied: 38.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 33.9 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 16.1 percent

The CIW certification program has global reach, but we didn't hear from enough credential holders living and working outside the United States to formulate good data. So everything we've got here applies solely to U.S.-based CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders.

Somewhat surprisingly for the male-dominated IT realm, more than a third of CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders who participated in the survey — 38.9 percent, to be exact — are women. In terms of age, our pool of respondents is deepest between the ages of 35 and 44, where 50 percent of those surveyed show up. Everyone else falls either between the ages of 19 and 24 (11.1 percent of respondents), 25 and 34 (16.9 percent), between the ages of 45 and 54 (22.2 percent), or between the ages of 55 and 64 (5.3 percent).

More than 65 percent of the CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist 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 CIW Web Design Specialist holders is either a bachelor's degree (33.3 percent), a master's degree (17.2 percent), or an associate's degree (16.2 percent). The outliers are the 16.7 percent of those surveyed who exited the realm of formal education after completing high school and the 16.6 percent who are currently in school.

Nearly all of the CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders who participated in the survey are employed full-time (90 percent of respondents), with the remaining 10 percent currently in school. Among those who have full-time jobs, 50 percent are at work for the standard 40 hours per week, with 33.3 percent putting in between 41 and 50 hours per week. The remaining 17 percent of those surveyed put either more than 50 hours per week (11.2 percent) or between 31 and 39 hours per week (5.5 percent).

Tech jobs often come with a degree of flexibility to work from home, and many web designers and developers in the modern landscape are freelancers. Among CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders who responded to the survey, however, 66.7 percent work at home fewer than 10 hours per week (or did before the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically redrew the employment landscape). That leaves just the 6.1 percent of respondents who work between 21 and 30 hours per week, the 5 percent who are home-based for between 31 and 39 hours per week, and the 22.2 percent who handle their entire weekly schedule (40 hours) from home.

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders we heard from, 30 percent, are at the rank-and-file employee level. The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (25.5 percent), senior specialists (24.5 percent), or managers (20 percent).

Exactly half of the CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist holders who responded to the survey are web design and development newcomers, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between 3 and 5 years (20.4 percent of those surveyed), between 9 and 10 years (9.6 percent), or more than 10 years (20 percent).

Finally, here's the view of CIW Advanced HTML5 and CSS3 Specialist 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: 30 percent
Several times a week: 15.5 percent
Several times a month: 14.5 percent
Occasionally: 20.5 percent
Rarely: 19.5 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 20 percent
Agree: 55 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 10.4 percent
Disagree: 14.6 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 24 percent
Agree: 50 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 19.1 percent
Disagree: 6.9 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 24.5 percent
Agree: 50 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 15.3 percent
Disagree: 10.2 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]