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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

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The jingle for Mr. Clean cleaning products has been in circulation since 1957, but even impressively long-lived solutions are not immune to change. The durable ditty got a modestly modernizing tuneup in 2016. Similarly, IT certification providers often revise, revisit, and occasionally completely overhaul their lineups of credentials.

The network security solutions offered by cybersecurity firm Fortinet — which have a Mr. Clean-like effect on the cyber-grime that gunks up the internet — are synced with a certification program that got a major makeover this summer. So this is both the first and possibly the last Deep Focus appearance of the Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) Level 3 credential (No. 29 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list).

Here’s what the salary picture looks like for Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $120,070
Median Annual Salary: $133,750
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 11.4 percent
Very Satisfied: 31.5 percent
Satisfied: 25.7 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 17.1 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 14.3 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $41,320
Median Annual Salary: $25,890
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 2.8 percent
Very Satisfied: 11.1 percent
Satisfied: 33.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 38.9 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 13.9 percent

The largest single body of Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (24.5 percent or respondents). We also heard from credential holders in 52 other countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Men generally outnumber women in information security professions, and that’s certainly true here, with men accounting for 84.8 percent of the Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders who responded to the survey. That leaves 13 percent of respondents who are women, 1.1 percent who chose not to identify a gender, and 1.1 percent who are gender variant/nonconforming. In terms of age, more than 75 percent of those surveyed are between the ages 25 and 44, landing either between the ages of 19 and 24 (5.6 percent), between the ages of 25 and 34 (40.6 percent), or between the ages 35 and 44 (32.2 percent). Most of the "old folks" are between the ages of 45 and 54 (18.2 percent of those surveyed), with the rest between the ages of 55 and 64 (3.4 percent).

Nearly 85 percent of the Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders we heard from have an educational background that includes time spent at a college of university. The highest level of education completed by most Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders is either a bachelor’s degree (44.8 percent), master’s degree (23.8 percent), associate’s degree (9.1 percent), doctorate (3.5 percent), or professional degree (also 3.5 percent). The outliers are the 7.7 percent of those surveyed who exited the realm of formal education after the completing some level of post-high school technical training, the 5.6 percent whose highest educational attainment is a high school diploma, the 1.4 percent who are currently in the process of furthering their education, and the 0.6 percent who received no formal education prior to joining the workforce.

A sturdy 77.7 percent of Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders who participated in the survey are employed full-time, with 6.5 percent holding part-time jobs, 3.3 percent who are primarily students, 7.1 percent who are on sabbatical, and 5.4 percent who are out of work. For most, full-time employment means being at work for either between 41 and 50 hours per week (36.6 percent of respondents) or for the standard 40 hours (33.8 percent). That leaves the 17 percent of respondents whose full-time schedule is more than 50 hours per week, the 6.3 percent who are getting off easy with a full-time schedule of between 31 and 39 hours per week, and the truly fortunate 6-ish percent for whom full-time work means either between 20 and 30 hours per week (5.6 percent) or fewer than 20 hours (0.7 percent).

There's less leeway for at-home employment among Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders than some other certified IT professionals enjoy. More than half of those surveyed are mostly confined to a traditional office setting, working from home either fewer than 10 hours per week (39.5 percent) or between 10 and 20 hours per week (13.7 percent). The rest of the survey group has more freedom, with 15.8 percent working from home between 21 and 30 hours per week, 7.9 percent at home for between 31 and 39 hours per week, 7.2 percent at home for 40 hours per week, and 15.9 percent working from home for more than 40 hours per week.

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders we heard from, 31.5 percent of respondents, are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (18.5 percent of those surveyed), managers (15.8 percent), rank-and-file employees (11.4 percent), senior managers (9.8 percent), directors (7.6 percent), or executives (5.4 percent).

Roughly 27 percent of the Fortinet NSE Level 3 holders who responded to the survey are IT journeymen, having worked in a role that directly utilizes their certified skills for between three and five years. The rest have been plying their certified skills for between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (19 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (23.4 percent), between 9 and 10 years (9.2 percent), or for more than a decade (21.8 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of Fortinet NSE Level 3 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: 39.7 percent
Several times a week: 25 percent
Several times a month: 18.5 percent
Occasionally: 12 percent
Rarely: 4.8 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 45.7 percent
Agree: 29.3 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.7 percent
Disagree: 4.9 percent
Strongly Disagree: 5.4 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 43 percent
Agree: 33.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 13 percent
Disagree: 6.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 4.3 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 38.7 percent
Agree: 35.3 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.1 percent
Disagree: 6.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 5.4 percent

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