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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Effective project management is not an IT skill per se, but skilled project managers can be found steering various endeavors across most IT disciplines. What's more, PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is widely demanded, well respected, and generously compensated by IT employers. PMP checked in at No. 13 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list.

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

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $137,940
Median Annual Salary: $128,890
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 16 percent
Very Satisfied: 22 percent
Satisfied: 34 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 26 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 2 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $109,360
Median Annual Salary: $80,000
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 1.8 percent
Very Satisfied: 8.9 percent
Satisfied: 51.8 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 26.8 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 10.7 percent

The largest single body of PMP holders to participate in the survey is made up of U.S. residents (47.5 percent), but we also heard from credential holders in 25 other countries: Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

Most of the PMP holders who responded to the survey are men, though a modest 7.1 percent of respondents are women. Like a number of other advanced credentials, PMP has extensive professional experience prerequisites, so PMP holders as a group tend to be older, more established workers. It's no surprise then, that 70 percent of those surveyed are middle-aged, either between the ages of 35 and 44 (34.9 percent) or between the ages of 45 and 54 (34.9 percent), with a further 21.7 percent between the ages of 55 and 64. The rest are at opposite ends of the spectrum, either between the ages of 25 and 34 (6.6 percent of respondents) or between the ages of 65 and 74 (1.9 percent).

More than 90 percent of the PMP 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 PMP holders is either a master's degree (51.1 percent of those surveyed), bachelor's degree (36.8 percent), associate's degree (2.8 percent), doctorate (2 percent), or professional degree (0.9 percent). The rest of the group shakes out as follows: 1.8 percent completed some level of post-high school technical training, 2.8 percent completed high school, 1 percent are currently students, and 0.8 percent had no formal education at all before entering the workforce.

Nearly 95 percent of PMP holders who participated in the survey are employed full-time, with the rest either presently on sabbatical (0.9 percent) or unemployed (4.5 percent). Among those who have full-time jobs, most either put in between 41 and 50 hours per week (50 percent) or have a standard 40-hour weekly work schedule (29.2 percent). The outliers are those who work more than 50 hours per week (13.2 percent of respondents), those who work between 31 and 39 hours (6.6 percent), or those who work between 20 and 30 hours (1 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of PMP holders we heard from are employed at the manager level (26.4 percent). The rest, in descending order, are either senior specialists (24 percent), senior managers (17.4 percent), directors (16.5 percent), executives (5.8 percent), specialists (also 5.8 percent), or rank-and-file employees (4.1 percent).

Nearly 69 percent of the PMP holders in 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 (0.8 percent), between 3 and 5 years (9.1 percent), between 6 and 8 years (7.4 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (14.1 percent).

Finally, here's the view of PMP 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: 57 percent
Several times a week: 25.6 percent
Several times a month: 11.6 percent
Occasionally: 5.8 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 29.8 percent
Agree: 47.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 21.5 percent
Disagree: 0.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: 0.8 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 25.6 percent
Agree: 53.7 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14 percent
Disagree: 5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 1.7 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 24 percent
Agree: 51.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 16.5 percent
Disagree: 7.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 0.8 percent

PAST PMP DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2017

2018