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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Massachusetts-based Pegasystems —which invites potential customers to use the folksy sobriquet "Pega" on its corporate website—prides itself on providing industry-leading solutions for customer engagement and intelligent automation. The challenge for a Pega Certified Business Architect (PCBA) (No. 30 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) is to develop "the fundamental, essential skills needed for analyzing, designing, and creating business requirements and specifications in the Pega application."

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

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $133,910
Median Annual Salary: $127,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 12.5 percent
Very Satisfied: 37.5 percent
Satisfied: 25.6 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 24.4 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $60,760
Median Annual Salary: $47,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: [No responses]
Very Satisfied: 6.6 percent
Satisfied: 44.1 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 43.4 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 5.9 percent

The largest single body of PCBA holders who responded to the survey is made up of U.S. residents (34.8 percent of those surveyed), but we also heard from credential holders in seven other countries: Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

About 17 percent of PCBA holders who participated in the survey are women, which is impressive (relatively speaking), given the extent to which males predominate in IT professions. The PCBA crowd is also surprisingly youthful, with more than 65 percent of those surveyed younger than 45, either between the ages of 19 and 24 (4.3 percent), between the ages of 25 and 34 (34.8 percent) or between the ages of 35 and 44 (26.1 percent). The outliers are the 30.4 percent of respondents who are between the ages of 45 and 54, and the 4.4 percent who are between the ages 55 and 64.

More than 75 percent of the PCBA holders we heard from have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of education completed by most PCBA holders is either a bachelor's degree (47.9 percent of those surveyed), master's degree (26.1 percent), or associate's degree (4.3 percent). Everyone else either concluded their educational endeavors after completing some level of post-high school technical training (8.7 percent of respondents) or exited the realm of formal education after completing high school (13 percent).

An impressive 97.2 percent of PCBA holders who responded to the survey are employed full-time, with the remaining 2.8 percent currently in school. For most, full-time employment means a work schedule that is either the standard 40 hours per week (33.3 percent of those surveyed) or between 41 and 50 hours per week (41.7 percent). For everyone else, a full-time work schedule means either more than 50 hours per week (8.3 percent of respondents), between 31 and 39 hours per week (12.5 percent), or fewer than 20 hours per week (4.2 percent).

The COVID-19 pandemic has doubtless changed the extent to which PCBA holders are spending those hours at a traditional workplace — a disclaimer that applies across the board to our 2021 Deep Focus series. Survey data shows that more than 78 percent of PCBA holders are logging their entire work schedule from home, putting in either 40 hours per week (16.7 percent) or more than 40 hours per week (62.5 percent) without leaving the house. The rest had the freedom to work from home for either between 31 and 39 hours per week (12.5 percent of respondents), between 21 and 30 hours per week (4.4 percent), or between 10 and 20 hours per week (3.9 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of PCBA holders we heard from (46.9 percent of respondents) are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either specialists (15.6 percent of those surveyed), senior managers 12.5 percent), managers (9.4 percent), rank-and-file employees (9.3 percent), or directors (6.3 percent).

Fewer than one-fourth (21.9 percent) of the PCBA holders who responded to the survey are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes their certified skills for more than a decade. The rest have been plying their certified skills for between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (18.7 percent of respondents), between 3 and 5 years (25 percent), between 6 and 8 years (18.8 percent of respondents), or between 9 and 10 years (15.6 percent).

Finally, here's the view of PCBA 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: 43.8 percent
Several times a week: 18.7 percent
Several times a month: 25 percent
Occasionally: 12.5 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 40.6 percent
Agree: 46.9 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 9.4 percent
Disagree: 3.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 28 percent
Agree: 43.8 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 21.9 percent
Disagree: 6.3 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 21.9 percent
Agree: 65.6 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 9.4 percent
Disagree: 3.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: [No responses]