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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.‍

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‍Of all the corporate landmarks in the cloud identity management certification landscape, none looms as large as Okta, the San Francisco-based company that began its existence under the more readily parsable moniker SaaSure. Fun fact: An "okta" is a unit of measurement that describes the level of (atmospheric) cloud coverage at a given location.

Okta credentials like Okta Certified Administrator, No. 9 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list, combine two red-hot skill sets, mixing cloud computing and cybersecurity. That's the kind of double whammy that definitely gets a second look from hiring managers.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for Okta Certified Administrator holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $138,020
Median Annual Salary: $132,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 23.7 percent
Very Satisfied: 18.4 percent
Satisfied: 44.7 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 33.2 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $57,710
Median Annual Salary: $48,750
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 13.3 percent
Very Satisfied: 26.7 percent
Satisfied: 37.8 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 20 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 2.2 percent

The largest single body of Okta Certified Administrator holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (46.3 percent), but we also heard from credential holders in 17 other countries: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Nepal, Netherlands, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Most of the Okta Certified Administrator holders we heard from are men (88.1 percent of respondents), but we did hear from a small core of women credential holders (10.7 percent), as well as tiny group who chose not to identify their gender (1.2 percent). The Okta Certified Administrator crowd is notably younger than a lot of our other survey subgroups, with 3.6 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 19 and 24, 41.5 percent between the ages of 25 and 34, and 39 percent between the ages of 35 and 44. The outliers are the 11 percent of respondents between the ages of 45 and 54, and the 4.9 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

A bit more than 80 percent of the Okta Certified Administrator 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 Administrator holders is either a bachelor's degree (47.6 percent of respondents), master's degree (30.5 percent), or associate's degree (4.9 percent). The rest either topped out with some level or post-high school technical training (9.8 percent) or exited the realm of formal education after completing high school (7.3 percent).

Okta Certified Administrator has a strong employment rate: 97.6 percent of those surveyed are employed full-time, with 1.2 percent employed part-time, and 1.2 percent out of work. For most, full-time employment means working either a standard 40-hours work week (34.9) or putting in between 41 and 50 hours per week (39.9 percent of those surveyed). A hard-charging 12 percent work more than 50 hours per week, while 10.8 percent are on the clock for between 31 and 39 hours per week. The remaining 2.4 percent are evenly divided between those whose full-time work week consists of either between 20 and 30 hours per week or fewer than 20 hours per week.

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of Okta Certified Administrator holders we heard from are at the senior specialist level (43.8 percent of those surveyed). The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (21.4 percent of respondents), rank-and-file employees (18.4 percent), directors (5.1 percent), managers or senior managers (both 4.1 percent), or executives (3.1 percent).

A little more than one-third (36.7 percent) of the Okta Certified Administrator holders who responded to the survey are budding IT journeymen, 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 (28.6 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (16.3 percent), between 9 and 10 years (4.1 percent), or more than a decade (14.3 percent).

Finally, here's the view of Okta Certified Administrator 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: 58.2 percent
Several times a week: 27.6 percent
Several times a month: 10.2 percent
Occasionally: 4 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 47 percent
Agree: 34.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.3 percent
Disagree: 2 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 39.8 percent
Agree: 30.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 22.4 percent
Disagree: 4.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 38.8 percent
Agree: 30.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 23.5 percent
Disagree: 4.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3 percent

PAST OKTA CERTIFIED ADMINISTRATOR DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2019

2018

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