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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

There's an important and growing niche in IT for cloud identity assurance professionals. The leader in the cloud identity field is Okta, and Okta credentials like Okta Certified Administrator, No. 17 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list, can help you get a leg up in an increasingly competitive information technology (IT) sector.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for Okta Certified Administrator holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $132,850
Median Annual Salary: $127,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 14.3 percent
Very Satisfied: 40 percent
Satisfied: 31.4 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 11.4 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 2.9 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $76,640
Median Annual Salary: $86,250
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 10.5 percent
Very Satisfied: 21.1 percent
Satisfied: 31.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 36.8 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

The largest single body of Okta Certified Administrator holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (64.8 percent), but we also heard from credential holders in 5 other countries: Australia, India, the Netherlands, Romania, and the United Kingdom.

Most of the Okta Certified Administrator holders we heard from are men (88.9 percent of respondents), but we did hear from a small core of women credential holders. The Okta Certified Administrator crowd is younger than a lot of our other survey subgroups, with 5.6 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 19 and 24, 35.1 percent between the ages of 25 and 34, and 37 percent between the ages of 35 and 44. The outliers are the 16.7 percent of respondents between the ages of 45 and 54, and the 5.6 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

A shade less than 75 percent of the Okta Certified Administrator 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 Okta Certified Administrator holders is either a bachelor's degree (53.7 percent of respondents), master's degree (13 percent), or associate's degree (7.4 percent). The rest either topped out with some level or post-high school technical training (11.1 percent) or exited the realm of formal education after completing high school (14.8 percent).

Okta Certified Administrator is one of the relatively rare certifications to fall under the Deep Focus microscope that has a perfect employment record: 100 percent or those surveyed are employed full-time. For most, that means working either between 41 and 50 hours per week (59.2 percent of those surveyed) or more than 50 hours per week (20.4 percent). Just 16.7 percent of respondents have a normal 40-hour work week, with the remaining 3.7 percent putting in between 31 and 39 hours per week.

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of Okta Certified Administrator holders we heard from are at the senior specialist level (42 percent of those surveyed). The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (17.7 percent of respondents), managers (16.1 percent), rank-and-file employees (14.5 percent), senior managers (6.5 percent), or directors and executives (both 1.6 percent).

Roughly half (48.4 percent) of the Okta Certified Administrator holders who responded to the survey are budding IT journeymen, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for between 3 and 5 years. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (25.8 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (9.7 percent), between 9 and 10 years (3.2 percent), or more than a decade (12.9 percent).

Finally, here's the view of Okta Certified Administrator 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: 66.1 percent
Several times a week: 24.2 percent
Several times a month: 8.1 percent
Occasionally: 1.6 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 33.9 percent
Agree: 37.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 24.2 percent
Disagree: 3.2 percent
Strongly Disagree: 1.6 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 32.2 percent
Agree: 33.9 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 19.4 percent
Disagree: 11.3 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.2 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 33.9 percent
Agree: 30.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 22.6 percent
Disagree: 9.7 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.2 percent

PAST OKTA CERTIFIED ADMINISTRATOR DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2018