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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Boiled down, tech industry consortium The Open Group is all about IT best practices and standards that establish consensus and help companies and organizations collaborate. The Open Group Architecture Framework, or TOGAF, is a methodology for creating comprehensive and effective enterprise architecture to improve business efficiency.

If that sounds intriguing, then you may be a good candidate for TOGAF certification, which comes in a variety of flavors. TOGAF 9 Certified (No. 26 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) is the higher of the two levels of certification that directly address mastery of the TOGAF Standard.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for TOGAF 9 Certified holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $136,790
Median Annual Salary: $132,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: [No responses]
Very Satisfied: 30 percent
Satisfied: 31.4 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 38.6 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $99,070
Median Annual Salary: $88,750
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 5.7 percent
Very Satisfied: 5.7 percent
Satisfied: 48.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 25.7 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 14.3 percent

Here's a rarity: The largest single body of TOGAF 9 Certified holders to participate in the survey is made up of residents of the United Kingdom (21.4 percent). The norm is for the United States to dominate, but U.S. credential holders are only the second-largest segment at 16.7 percent. The rest of the TOGAF 9 Certified holders we heard from are spread across 12 other countries: Australia, Belgium, China, Costa Rica, Germany, Hungary, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, and Singapore.

The IT realm is typically dominated by male professionals, and only a handful of the TOGAF 9 Certified holders we heard from — 6.8 percent of those surveyed — are women. The age of credential holders, on the other hand, is somewhat surprising, with 57 percent of those surveyed either between the ages of 25 and 34 (4.8 percent) or between the ages of 35 and 44 (52.4 percent). There is a large group between the ages of 45 and 54— 40.5 percent of respondents — with the remaining 2.4 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

A striking 93 percent of the TOGAF 9 Certified 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 TOGAF 9 Certified holders is either a bachelor's degree (33.3 percent of respondents), master's degree (45.3 percent), doctorate (2.4 percent), associate's degree (2.6 percent), or professional degree (9.5 percent). The remaining 7 percent of TOGAF 9 Certified holders either completed some level of post-high school technical training (4.8 percent of those surveyed) or departed the realm of formal education after completing high school (2.1 percent).

Employment among TOGAF 9 Certified holders is rock solid, with 95.5 percent of credential holders employed full-time, 2.3 percent holding part-time jobs, and 2.2 presently out of work. For most respondents, full-time employment means either a standard 40-hour work week (26.2 percent of respondents) or a regular schedule of between 41 and 50 hours per week (42.8 percent). Out of the remaining 31 percent of those surveyed, 9.5 percent work between 31 and 39 hours per week, 4.8 percent work between 20 and 30 hours per week, and 16.7 percent put in more than 50 hours per week.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reshuffled workplaces worldwide in 2020, and there's strong evidence of that here: A notable 70 percent of the TOGAF 9 Certified holders we heard from are spending their entire work schedule at home, with 25 percent putting in 40 hours per week from home, and 45 percent working beneath the same roof that's overhead when they sleep at night more than 40 hours per week. The rest haven't entirely separated from their cubicles (or corner offices), working from home either between 31 and 39 hours per week (15 percent of respondents), between 21 and 30 hours per week (12.5 percent), or for fewer than 10 hours per week (2.5 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of TOGAF 9 Certified holders we heard from are employed at the senior specialist level (27.7 percent). The rest, in descending order, are either senior managers (21.3 percent of respondents), managers (19.1 percent), directors (19.1 percent), specialists (6.4 percent), executives (also 4.3 percent), or rank-and-file employees (also 2.1 percent).

An impressive 78.7 percent of TOGAF 9 Certified 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 between 3 and 5 years (12.8 percent of respondents), between 6 and 8 years (2.1 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (6.4 percent).

Finally, here's the view of TOGAF 9 Certified 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: 42.6 percent
Several times a week: 42.6 percent
Several times a month: 10.6 percent
Occasionally: 2.2 percent
Rarely: 2 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 21.3 percent
Agree: 53.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 23.4 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 2.1 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 31.9 percent
Agree: 42.8 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 21.3 percent
Disagree: 2.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 1.9 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 21.5 percent
Agree: 53.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 23.4 percent
Disagree: [No responses]
Strongly Disagree: 1.9 percent