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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.
Microsoft has been closing the gap of late, but Amazon Web Services is still the towering titan of the cloud computing industry, with a bit more than one third of the overall cloud services market. AWS planted its flag before "the cloud" was even really on the IT industry horizon, and we all know what that one guy once said about getting there first.
If you want to climb the AWS certification tree, then the first limb to reach for is the foundational AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner credential. It will get you off the ground with the hottest cloud computing software around, and tends to appear on the résumés of top-salaried certified IT professionals, rising to No. 12 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: $131,520
Median Annual Salary: $137,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 12.9 percent
Very Satisfied: 22.6 percent
Satisfied: 42.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 16.8 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 5.1 percent
All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $59,470
Median Annual Salary: $53,440
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 9 percent
Very Satisfied: 11 percent
Satisfied: 29.7 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 31 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 19.3 percent
A little more than 50 percent of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who participated in the Salary Survey are U.S. residents, but we also heard from credential holders in 49 other countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Tech circles tend to be dominated by men, and male professionals account for 88.1 percent of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who participated in the survey. That leaves 13.6 percent who are female, 0.3 percent who are transgender male, 0.3 percent who are transgender female, 0.6 percent who are gender variant/nonconforming, and 3.3 percent who chose not to identify their gender. A majority of respondents, regardless of gender, are at least somewhat surprisingly youthful, with precisely 65 percent of those surveyed either between the ages of 19 and 24 (4.3 percent), between the ages of 25 and 34 (25.7 percent), or between the ages of 35 and 44 (35 percent). The rest are either between the ages of 45 and 54 (24.3 percent of respondents), between the ages of 55 and 64 (9 percent), or between the ages of 65 and 74 (1.7 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 (45.3 percent), master's degree (35.7 percent), associate's degree (7.7 percent), doctorate (2 percent), or professional degree (1 percent). The outliers are the 4.7 percent of respondents who topped out at some level of post-high school technical training, the 3.5 percent who exited the realm of formal education after completing high school, and the 1.3 percent who are currently at some stage of furthering their education.
A solid 88.1 percent of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders who responded to the survey are employed full-time, with 2.9 percent holding part-time jobs, 2.6 percent on sabbatical, 3.2 percent who are students, and 3.2 percent out of work. Among those who have full-time jobs, most are at work either for the standard 40 hours per week (40.3 percent of respondents) or put in between 41 and 50 hours per week (36.2 percent). The remaining roughly 25 percent of those surveyed are either carrying a heavy load, working more than 50 hours per week (11.7 percent), or getting off easy with a standard work week of either between 39 and 31 hours per week (8.7 percent), between 20 and 30 hours per week (1.8 percent), or fewer than 20 hours per week (1.3 percent).
In the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders are spending most or all of their work schedule at home. A sizeable 37 percent of respondents don't ever leave the house for work, putting in either 40 hours per week from home (15 percent) or more than 40 hours per week from home (22.8 percent). Among the remaining 60-ish percent, 15.4 percent work from home between 31 and 39 hours per week and 13.8 percent work from home between 21 and 30 hours per week. That leaves just 32 percent spending at least half of their work hours at a traditional office, working from home either between 10 and 20 hours per week (14.8 percent) or fewer than 10 hours per week (18.1 percent).
In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner holders we heard from, 33.6 percent of those surveyed, are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either rank-and-file employees (15.4 percent of respondents), specialists (15.1 percent), managers (13.6 percent), senior managers (11.6 percent), directors (7 percent), and executives (3.7 percent).
A little more than one-third (35.7 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 (15.6 percent of those surveyed), between 3 and 5 years (23.8 percent), between 6 and 8 years (16.2 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (8.7 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: 43.9 percent
Several times a week: 30.4 percent
Several times a month: 10.1 percent
Occasionally: 11.3 percent
Rarely: 4.3 percent
Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 43.7 percent
Agree: 35.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 15.7 percent
Disagree: 3.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2 percent
Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 36.5 percent
Agree: 39.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 15.9 percent
Disagree: 4.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.8 percent
Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 31.9 percent
Agree: 40.9 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 18 percent
Disagree: 6.4 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.8 percent
PAST AWS CERTIFIED CLOUD PRACTITIONER DEEP FOCUS FEATURES
Certification Magazine was launched in 1999 and remained in print until mid-2008. Publication was restarted on a quarterly basis in February 2014. Subscribe to CertMag here.
Important Update: We have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
