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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

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Businesses and other organizations must file, sort, organize, and access increasingly massive amounts of data. Silicon Valley-based NetApp specializes in cloud data services and data management. That opens a lot of doors to IT data professionals who are proficient with NetApp tools and processes.

One key branch of the NetApp certification tree is NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP — No. 56 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list — which verifies expertise in "performing in-depth support, administrative functions, and performance management for NetApp data storage controllers running the ONTAP operating system."

Here what the salary picture looks like for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $92,830
Median Annual Salary: $71,250
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 16.7 percent
Very Satisfied: 35.7 percent
Satisfied: 33.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 14.3 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

NetApp technologies have a global footprint, but we didn't hear from enough NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders who live outside the United States to include their data here. So everything you'll read is referencing only credential holders who live in the United States.

Contrary to prevailing industry biases, women abound in this neck of the IT woods: a highly unusual 40.5 percent of NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders who responded to the survey are female. (Every other respondent in the group is male, except for a 2.4 percent sliver of those surveyed who choose not to identify their gender.) Generally speaking, the pool of credential holders is remarkably youthful, with nearly 84 percent of those surveyed younger than 45, either between the ages of 25 and 34 (40.5 percent) or between the ages of 35 and 44 (42.9 percent). The remaining 17 percent of respondents are either between the ages of 45 and 54 (9.5 percent) or between the ages of 55 and 64 (7.1 percent).

A shade more than 90 percent of NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 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 NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders is either a bachelor’s degree (45.3 percent of those surveyed), master’s degree (23.8 percent), associate's degree (11.9 percent), or doctorate (9.5 percent). The outliers are the 7.1 percent of respondents who completed some level of technical training after high school and the 4.8 percent who exited the realm of formal education after getting a high school diploma.

There’s a mixed employment outlook for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders: 59.2 percent of survey respondents are employed full-time, 14 percent have part-time jobs, 5.6 percent are currently enjoying some form of sabbatical, 11.3 percent primarily identify as students, and 9.9 percent are currently unemployed. Among those who have full-time jobs, about 55 percent are at work either for the standard 40 hours per week (31.7 percent of those surveyed) or for between 41 and 50 hours per week (24.4 percent). The rest of the full-timers are either punching the clock for between 31 and 39 hours per week (22 percent of respondents), between 20 and 30 hours per week (12.2 percent), fewer than 20 hours per week (2.4 percent), or more than 50 hours per week (7.3 percent).

There's not a lot of freedom to work from home among NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders. Even in the post-COVID-19 world, 65 percent of those surveyed are spending most of those hours in a traditional workplace, working at home either 10 or fewer hours per week (30 percent) or between 10 and 20 hours (35 percent). The rest can skip the morning commute for either between 21 and 30 hours per week (22.5 percent of respondents), 40 hours per week (7.5 percent), or more than 40 hours per week (5 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders we heard from are employed at the manager level (28.2 percent of those surveyed). The rest, in descending order, are either rank-and-file employees (16.9 percent or respondents), senior specialists (15.5 percent), senior managers (12.6 percent of respondents), executives (also 12.6 percent), directors (10 percent), or specialists (4.2 percent).

A core 40.8 percent of the NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP holders who responded to the survey are IT novices, having worked in a role the directly utilizes 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 (15.5 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (36.6 percent), between 9 and 10 years (4.2 percent), or more than a decade (2.9 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 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: 12.7 percent
Several times a week: 50.7 percent
Several times a month: 14.1 percent
Occasionally: 15.5 percent
Rarely: 7 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 23.9 percent
Agree: 46.5 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 18.3 percent
Disagree: 5.6 percent
Strongly Disagree: 5.6 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 38 percent
Agree: 25.4 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 25.4 percent
Disagree: 7 percent
Strongly Disagree: 4.2 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 25.4 percent
Agree: 43.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 15.5 percent
Disagree: 8.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 6.9 percent

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