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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Say it ain't so, Mr. Prime Minister! The United Kingdom first declared its intention to "Brexit" the European Union in June 2016. It took so long for government to actually get around to the particulars, however, that former London mayor Boris Johnson elbowed the establishment aside and won election last July 22 to the office of prime minister (vacated by Teresa May the previous month).

Johnson vowed to not get bogged down by procedure, as his predecessor had, and after failing to force the issue in October, he called for and won a so-called "snap election," entrenching his own position and securing a strong parliamentary majority. While all of the was unfolding across the pond, we here at Certification Magazine were firing up the annual Salary Survey.

For those not in the know, every Salary Survey includes a 10-question chaser where we ask survey respondents to weigh in on questions a) not related to IT, and b) generally (though not invariably) including some element of humor. So for last year's survey, we thought something that adds up to "Wow, this Brexit thing has been going of forever" and "Maybe it's not actually going to happen."

So we drew up a survey question to that effect, to see what certified IT professionals would predict about the future of Brexit. Would the long kiss good night get dragged out even further? Or would the new sheriff in town finally finish the job?

The story, of course, has already passed up by. The United Kingdom actually, finally, successfully Brexited last week (on Friday, Jan. 31, to be exact). Boris has done what he promised to do, and either brexed things up royally, or set the United Kingdom on a new path to prosperity, sovereignty, etc. Time will tell.

Yes, yes, but what did the survey say? Did certified IT professionals actually believe it would happen? Here's what we learned:

Q: The first nation to actually successfully exit the European Union will be:

None of the above. It's all just political posturing, including in the United Kingdom. — 48.9 percent
The United Kingdom. In Boris we trust. — 41.6 percent
Spain. Nobody expects the Spanish vamoose-ition! — 4.1 percent
Greece. Grexit is not dead yet. — 3 percent
Italy. The Five Star Movement will rise again. — 2.5 percent

So, first things first, our premise was flawed. It turns out that French Algeria (modern Algeria) exited the EU upon gaining its independence from France in 1962. More recently, Greenland (in 1985) and the Caribbean island nation of Saint Barthélemy (in 2012) decided that they would both EU later. (Oh, man, that was bad.) So, yeah, we whiffed it a bit on that one.

To the point, however, a majority of certified IT professionals — nearly half of those surveyed — did not think that B.J. had it in him. A solid 41 percent were in the "Don't stop believin' " camp, and either their faith or their cynicism has been rewarded. Everyone else took us up on one or our three mostly fanciful and funny options.

Interestingly, even certified IT professionals from the United Kingdom didn't think Brexit would ever actually get across the finish line. Among U.K. survey respondents, 55.4 percent predicted "None of the above," 43.1 percent said "The United Kingdom," and the remaining 1.5 percent put their money on "Spain."

At any rate, congratulations to the U.K. citizens and their PM. You asked for it and now you've got it.