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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.
Late night icon Jimmy Fallon parachutes into the final third of the rock drama Almost Famous as manager Dennis Hope, who utters the memorable line, "I didn't invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella." To extend the metaphor to cloud computing, the guy who owns the best umbrella for a rainy day is probably a certified cloud security professional.
You don't have to have the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) credential (No. 13 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) find employment as a certified cloud security professional, but it certainly couldn't hurt. CCSP has the backing of cybersecurity professional association (ISC)², which is widely respected for its certification program.
Here's what the salary picture looks like for CCSP holders who responded to the Salary Survey:
All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $137,100
Median Annual Salary: $140,630
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 13 percent
Very Satisfied: 25.6 percent
Satisfied: 40.7 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 18.3 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 2.4 percent
All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $90,720
Median Annual Salary: $93,910
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 6.8 percent
Very Satisfied: 19.9 percent
Satisfied: 37.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 26.7 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 9 percent
The largest single group of CCSP holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (52.7 percent of those surveyed), but we also heard from credential holders in 54 other countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
The cybersecurity industry as a whole tends to be dominated by male professionals, and that's reflected here as well: 82.6 percent of CCSP holders who responded to the survey are men. That leaves 11.4 percent of those surveyed who are women, with 3.7 percent who chose not identify a gender, 1.2 percent who are transgender male, 0.7 percent who are transgender female, and 0.4 percent who are gender variant/nonconforming. Most survey participants are what we generally think of as being middle-aged, either between the ages of 35 and 44 (34.9 percent of those surveyed), or between the ages of 45 and 54 (34 percent). The rest are either youngsters — the 16.5 percent of those surveyed who are between the ages of 25 and 34, along with the 1.5 percent who are between the ages of 19 and 24, and the 0.2 percent who are 18 or younger — or circling retirement, either between the ages of 55 and 64 (11.6 percent) or between the ages of 65 and 74 (1.3 percent).
More than 85 percent of CCSP 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 CCSP holders is either a bachelor's degree (36.8 percent of those surveyed), master's degree (42.5 percent), doctorate (3 percent), professional degree (2.1 percent), or associate's degree (5.4 percent). The outliers are the 5.1 percent of respondents who exited the realm of formal education after completing some level of post-high school technical training, the 3.6 percent who topped out with a high school diploma, the 0.4 percent who are currently in school, and the 1.1 percent who entered the workforce with no formal education whatsoever.
Nearly all of the CCSP holders who participated in the survey are employed full-time — 83.3 percent of them, to be precise — with 7.3 percent holding part-time jobs, 1.6 percent who are currently full-time students, 2.5 percent who are on sabbatical, and 5.3 percent who are out of work. Among those who have have full-time jobs, 50 percent are going above and beyond that standard 40-hour work week, putting in either between 41 and 50 hours per week (38.7 percent) or more than 50 hours per week (12.5 percent). The rest either have a traditional 40-hour schedule (32.7 percent of respondents), put in between 31 and 39 hours per week (11.6 percent), put in between 20 and 30 hours per week (2.6 percent), or have a full-time work schedule that consists of fewer than 20 hours per week (1.9 percent).
In the post-pandemic working world, a notable 64 percent of CCSP holders who responded to the survey work from home more than 20 hours per week, putting in either between 21 and 30 hours per week (13.5 percent of those surveyed), between 31 and 39 hours per week (12.4 percent), a full 40 hours per week (17 percent), or more than 40 hours per week (21.2 percent). Even among the remaining 36 percent, roughly half (17.3 percent) of those surveyed work from home between 10 and 20 hours per week, with just 18.6 percent logging fewer than 10 hours per week outside of a traditional workplace setting.
In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of CCSP holders we heard from, 27.5 percent of those surveyed, are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either managers (20.9 percent), directors (16 percent), senior managers (15.5 percent), executives (3.3 percent), specialists (7.1 percent), or rank-and-file employees (4.1 percent).
A notable 43 percent of CCSP 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 (11.8 percent of those surveyed), between 3 and 5 years (20.3 percent), between 6 and 8 years (15.9 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (9 percent).
Finally, here's the view of CCSP 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: 45.3 percent
Several times a week: 34.2 percent
Several times a month: 10.9 percent
Occasionally: 7 percent
Rarely: 2.6 percent
Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 40.6 percent
Agree: 39.4 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.1 percent
Disagree: 3.2 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.7 percent
Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 28.5 percent
Agree: 43.9 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 18.2 percent
Disagree: 6.4 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3 percent
Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 26.9 percent
Agree: 42 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 23.3 percent
Disagree: 4.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3 percent
PAST CCSP DEEP FOCUS FEATURES
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