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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

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The basic premise of cloud identity management is that individual users are tracked and correctly distinguished across the various applications and systems in a cloud computing environment. Essentially, it would be much harder to function for all of those Shakespeare characters who pretend to be other people to serve various schemes and designs.

Okta provides one of the leading cloud identity management solutions and an Okta certification verifies an increasingly important skill set. Okta Certified Consultant (No. 3 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) is the top tier of the Okta certification pyramid. Here’s what the salary picture looks like for Okta Certified Consultant holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $150,060
Median Annual Salary: $140,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 28.6 percent
Very Satisfied: 14.5 percent
Satisfied: 42.9 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 14 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $63,700
Median Annual Salary: $58,750
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 13.6 percent
Very Satisfied: 23 percent
Satisfied: 36.4 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 22.5 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 4.5 percent

The largest single body of Okta Certified Consultant holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (50 percent of those surveyed), but we also heard from credential holders in 12 other countries: Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Nearly all of the Okta Certified Consultant holders we heard from are men — 91.3 percent — with woman accounting for just 6.4 percent of responses, while 2.2 percent of those surveyed chose not to identify their gender. The overall group is considerably younger than the Deep Focus norm: More than 80 percent of those surveyed are younger than 45, with 4.8 percent between the ages of 19 and 24, 37.3 percent between the ages of 25 and 34, and 39.4 between the ages of 35 and 44. The outliers are the 16.3 percent of respondents between the ages of 45 and 54, and the 2.2 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

More than 80 percent of Okta Certified Consultant 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 Consultant holders is either a bachelor’s degree (41.9 percent of respondents), master’s degree (39.5 percent), or associate’s degree (2.3 percent). The outliers are the 11.6 percent of those surveyed who completed some level of technical training after high school and the 4.7 percent who exited the realm of formal education after completing high school.

Okta certification is apparently a rock solid hedge against unemployment: 100 percent of Okta Certified Consultant holders who responded to the survey are employed, with 93.5 percent in full-time position and the other 6.5 percent working part-time jobs. For most, full-time employment means punching the clock for either between 41 and 50 hours per week (35 percent of respondents) or for the standard 40 hours (37.1 percent). The rest, roughly 28 percent of respondents, put in either more than 50 hours per week (9.2 percent), between 31 and 39 hours per week (16.4 percent), or between 20 and 30 hours per week (2.3 percent).

The COVID-19 pandemic rewrote a lot of workplace norms, and a great many of those surveyed work either mostly or entirely from home: almost 60 percent of respondents work from home either 40 hours per week (27.9 percent), or more than 40 hours per week (30.2 percent). A further 28 percent of respondents spend half or more than half of their work time in pajamas (or other casual wear), clocking in from home for either between 31 and 39 hours per week (18.6 percent) or between 21 and 30 hours per week (9.4 percent). That leaves just 14 percent of those surveyed who spend most of their time in a traditional office setting, only working from home for either between 10 and 20 hours per week (4.7 percent) or fewer than 10 hours per week (also 9.2 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of Okta Certified Consultant holders we heard from are employed at the senior specialist level (53.7 percent of respondents). The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (13 percent of those surveyed), executives (11.1 percent), rank-and-file employees (9.3 percent), senior managers (5.6 percent), managers (3.7 percent), or directors (3.6 percent).

A core 33.3 percent of the Okta Certified Consultant holders who responded to the survey are IT up-and-comers, 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 (22.2 percent of those surveyed), between 6 and 8 years (18.5 percent), between 9 and 10 years (9.3 percent) or for more than a decade (16.7 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of Okta Certified Consultant 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: 55.6 percent
Several times a week: 37 percent
Several times a month: 3.8 percent
Occasionally: 3.5 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 35.1 percent
Agree: 42.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 16.7 percent
Disagree: 1.9 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.7 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 27.8 percent
Agree: 40.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 22.2 percent
Disagree: 1.9 percent
Strongly Disagree: 7.4 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 25.9 percent
Agree: 40.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 27.8 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 5.6 percent

PAST OKTA CERTIFIED CONSULTANT DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2020

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