9 High Paying Certifications IN 2015 Professional certifications have acquired an important place in today’s job market as 91% of hiring managers globally consider certification to be a criterion for hiring. Here are ten trending certifications of the year that can boost your salary package. The rankings are based upon the average salary a professional draws after receiving the respective certification. TOGAF CISSP PMP CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER SALESFORCE DEVELOPER ITIL DATA SCIENTIST DIGITAL MARKETING CEH
TOGAF CISSP PMP CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER SALESFORCE DEVELOPER ITIL DATA SCIENTIST DIGITAL MARKETING CEH TOGAF Vital Stats The Open Group Architecture Framework or TOGAF is an Enterprise Architecture framework which helps in designing, planning and implementing the information security architecture of an enterprise. TOGAF as a professional certification program for individuals and organizations was launched by the Open Group in 2004. Industry Relevance TOGAF certification enables professionals to acquire specific knowledge about the standard framework and methods of the enterprise architecture and helps them demonstrate their proven knowledge of the framework. There has been an exponential growth in Enterprise and IT Architecture and the vertical is expected to grow more rapidly in the near future. IBM, HP, Oracle, Deloitte, Capgemini, Cisco, and other leading giants are implementing TOGAF® methodologies to transform their business thereby increasing the job opportunities for TOGAF® certified architects. Salary TOGAF certified Enterprise Architects who are earning a whopping $124,000 compared to their non-certified peers and are most sought-after by Fortune 500 companies. Skills Generic skills such as leadership, team building and soft skills Business skills comprising business cases, processes, strategic planning Enterprise Architecture Skills comprising modelling, system integration, applications & role design Project Management Skills Technical Skills Legal knowledge about data protection laws, contract law, procurement law, etc Eligibility Requirements TOGAF 9 Foundation (Part-1): There are no set eligibility requirements for taking up the TOGAF 9 Foundation (Part-1) examination. Any aspiring candidate who wishes to build a career in Enterprise architecture can take up the examination. A candidate may achieve certification either through self-study or by attending a TOGAF Accredited Training Course. TOGAF 9 Certification (Part-2): For taking up TOGAF 9 Certification (Part-2) Exam, a candidate must have passed the TOGAF 9 Foundation (Part-1) Exam from the same ATTC provider. Examination Format & Cost This Exam consists of 40 multiple choice questions. You need to write 22 or more correct answers to qualify on this exam. Passing score is 55%. Each correct answer scores one mark. TOGAF certification can be achieved through: TOGAF 9 (Part-1): This exam consists of 8 multiple choice questions which are based on complex scenarios with gradient scoring. Passing score is 60%. The exam is open book and a correct answer scores 5 points, second best answer scores 3 points, and third best scores 1 point. Hard copy or PDF of the applicable text book is provided by the test center. TOGAF 9 (Part-2): Exam Duration: 60 Minutes Exam Fee: USD 320 + Local Taxes Exam Duration: 90 Minutes Exam Fee: USD 320 + Local Taxes This exam consists of 48 questions and is taken by those aspirants who wish to take up the level 2 certification in a single examination. It comprises two sections and each section must be cleared with pass marks that are similar to those of the separate exams (Part 1: 55%, Part 2: 60%). TOGAF 9 Combined Part 1 & 2 Exam Duration: 150 minutes Exam Cost: USD 495 + Local Taxes CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER Vital Stats Certified Scrum Master is one of the most popular and globally recognized certifications o ered by the reputed Scrum Alliance. This coveted credential is o ered to those professionals who have successfully completed CSM training and have proven their skills in Scrum terminologies, practices and principles in the CSM exam. CSM provides better and greater job opportunities to professionals who wish to build a strong base on scrum and agile practices and development. There are more than 262,000 Certified Scrum Masters. Industry Relevance Project managers across industries Product owners Software architects Developers Testers Coders Salary According to payscale.com, a CSM® professional has a median salary of $112,000 a year. Also, a Certified ScrumMaster® earns 3% more than a ScrumMaster. Skills A CSM must be proactive. Ability to develop and foster teamwork. Ability to promptly and clearly disseminate information E ective communication skills Great problem solving ability Ability to handle stressful situations Ability to take a call and make decisions Eligibility Requirements Although there are no set eligibility requirements for certified scrum master, it is advisable to have some understanding of the principles and possess working knowledge of the overall scrum process. The candidate must understand the individual roles of product owner and development team. Examination Format & Cost The exam consists of 35 multiple choice questions and to pass the Certified Scrum Master exam, one needs to write 24 or more correct answers. Candidate can take up the exam only after the completion of two days training. The test takes about an hour to finish. The cost of the CSM exam is included in the course and will be paid by the trainer. There will be two free attempts after which $25 will be charged. Exam Format: 35 MCQs Exam Cost: Included in training CISSP Vital Stats A person with CISSP certification has the ability to delimitate the architecture, innovations, management or commands that define the security of the business environment. The CISSP exam is governed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. or (ISC) 2 which is a global not-for-profit organization. There are around 96,000 CISSPs across the globe. Industry Relevance IT managers Security consultants Security analysts IT professionals Network engineers Salary survey conducted by a Certification Magazine ranked CISSP as one of the top best-paid credentials in IT. According to a survey conducted in 2008, IT professionals with CISSP certification tend to earn $21,000 more compared to IT professionals without CISSP certification. According to PayScale.com, the salary for a CISSP professional ranges from $60,000 to $160,000, the average salary being $110,600. Salary Skills Soft Skills Access Control Cryptography Operations Security Physical Security Telecommunications & Network Security Information Security Application Development Security Security Architecture & Design Legal Regulations Examination Format & Cost The CISSP exam consists of 250 multiple choice questions. A candidate is required to score 700 out of the possible 1000 points to pass the exam. Eligibility Requirements Candidates must have a minimum of five years of full-time security professional work experience in two or more of the ten domains of the (ISC)2 CISSP® Common Body of Knowledge (CBK). They have to subscribe to the (ISC)2 Code of Ethics or four years of security work experience in two or more domains along with a college degree. Exam Duration: 6 hours Exam Cost: USD 549 or USD 599 PMP Vital Stats PMP is the most sought-after certification for Project Managers o ered by the reputed PMI. According to PMI Today magazine (Jan 2015 edition), there are 639,023 PMP certified professionals across the globe. The PMP certification exam covers five areas relating to the lifecycle of a project: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Industry Relevance Construction Government Public Sectors IT Manufacturing Salary According to PMI, Project Management is one of the topmost skillsets in demand by organizations across the globe. It is estimated that one-fifth of the world’s total GDP-which is nearly 12 trillion-is spent on projects. This creates a huge demand for knowledgeable and skilled project managers. The median salary for a PMP is $109,405 Skills Excellent Communication Skills Masterful soft skills E ective Leadership Skills Time-Management Skills Sound Industry & Solution Knowledge Conflict-Management Organizational & Multi-tasking skills Human Resource Management Risk Management Secondary degree with at least five years of project management experience with 7500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education. To be eligible for the certification program, you need to have enough Project management working experience. Criteria: or Eligibility Requirements Four-year degree with at least three years of project management experience, with 4500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education. Examination Format & Cost The PMP examination consists of 175 scored multiple-choice questions and 25 pretest (unscored) questions that sum up to 200 questions. The allotted time for the completion of the exam is 4 hours. The candidate is required to write 137 correct answers in order to pass the exam. Examination At present, the examination fee is $405 (PMI member) and USD $555 (non-member). Cost Exam Duration: 4 hours Exam Cost: $405 or $555 SALESFORCE DEVELOPER Vital Stats The Salesforce Developer certification is a credential that bestows necessary skills and knowledge of designing custom-made applications and analytics while being aided by declarative features of the Salesforce platform. It is a certification that proves a professional’s ability to build specific data models, identify business logic, design user interface and ensure security for customized applications The growth in demand for certified Salesforce professionals has shot up to 159% since the year 2008. Salesforce.com is the main accreditation body that dictates the structure of the Salesforce Developer certification.
The Salesforce Developer course suits all professionals who are responsible for setting up, configuring and maintaining Salesforce applications in the organization. It is best suited for: Industry Relevance Developers and System administrators Sales Architects Operations professionals IT managers Salary The Salesforce Developer earns an average pay of $99,000. Skills Excellent written & verbal communication Presentation Style Research Habits Listening Skill Providing Solutions Trust Building Referral Maximization Storytelling Eligibility Requirements Salesforce.com stipulates a minimum set of requirements that all qualified candidates must possess. A degree in Business Administration or Computer Applications' Have a good understanding of the basic concepts and functionalities on Salesforce platforms. Examination Format & Cost The exam is online based and lasts 90 minutes with a format of multiple-choice questions and consists of 60 questions in total. The percentage passing score is 68% which is a minimum score for all candidates. Exam Duration: 90 minutes Exam Cost: $200 ITIL Vital Stats Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a comprehensive set of IT service management best practices aimed at achieving cost-e ective, high quality services and e cient support by aligning business requirements with IT services. The ITIL® Foundation certification is considered as the entry level qualification in the field of IT Service Management. Industry Relevance Operations Managers Service Delivery Professionals Quality Analysts Production Support Engineers IT Professionals According to Indeed.com, the average salary of an
ITIL® certified professional is $95,000. Companies like Dell, NIIT, Fujitsu, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, CSC, Accenture, Genpact, Citibank, HCL, IBM, Deutsche Bank, Reliance, Ericsson, Fidelity Investment Services, GE Capital, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, KPMG, and Mercedes-Benz prefer IT Service Delivery and Support sta with ITIL® certification. Salary Skills Business Process Modeling Database Management IT Architecture IT Security Networking Data Mining Soft Skills Problem Solving aptitude While there is no mandatory qualification for obtaining the ITIL Foundation 2011 certification, candidates who apply for this certificate are encouraged to have a minimum of 2 years of experience in IT service management. Knowledge of core principles of service management is required. Another requirement is the awareness of ITIL terminology and the examination procedure. Eligibility Requirements Examination Format The exam consists of 40 multiple choice questions per paper. This closed book exam requires you to obtain 26 marks or 65% to earn the foundation certificate. Passing this exam will earn you 2 credits. Exam Duration: 60 minutes Exam Format: 40 MCQs DATA SCIENTIST Vital Stats About 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day and around 90% of the world’s total data has been generated in the last two years. Management best practices are aimed at achieving cost-e ective, high quality services and e cient support by aligning business requirements with IT services. The advent of Big Data has helped organizations in taking better decisions, enhancing customer engagement, optimizing operations, preventing threats and fraud and capitalizing on new sources of revenue. With data emerging as one of the world’s newest resources for competitive engagement, industry specific skills are required to completely harness the power of Big Data. Gartner has predicted that there will be a need for 4.4 million data scientists in 2015, but that only one- third of those jobs will be filled by skilled employees. McKinsey predicts that the US is going to face a shortage of skilled Big Data professionals with analytical skills by 2018. Harvard Business Review has called Data Scientist the sexiest job of the 21st century. Industry Relevance Agriculture Healthcare Big Data continues to be an exploding space with tremendous job opportunities in: Manufacturing IT E-Commerce Telecom Retail Digital Public Sectors For working on real data, it is essential for data scientists to work with languages like R, Python, SAS, Hadoop, and more. Technical Skills: Business Implications Intellectual Curiosity E ective Communication Skills Problem Solving Skills Non-Technical Skills: Skills Salary The median salary for a data scientist is about $95,000 per annum. Data Science is expected to, consolidate, become the mainstream career option, and even surprise us with advancements in the field. The field is expected to mature over time and slowly shift to a cloud environment. Data science practitioners would like to be able to build predictive models in temporary cloud environments in order to increase their performance requirements. Unlike the current trend of a single algorithm or tool being used to solve most of the data-related problems, the future is predicted to
break this jinx. Data scientists are building new data algorithms to suit their needs, which are predicted to take advantage of parallel data processing to improve e ciency. Although there are no defined pre-requisites for taking up certification training, it is important to brush up on a few skills like Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Statistics (basics). To become a data scientist, having a basic hands-on knowledge of statistics is necessary. There is a lot of debate doing the rounds in data science circles regarding statistics being outdated and stodgy. However, statistical modeling is an important part of the job profile of a data scientist. Thus, candidates need to possess a basic knowledge of stats, so that they can apply this logic in R or other languages. Computer Science fundamentals knowledge is essential for taking up any training. As is widely known, Data Scientists need to write code, for the simple reason that if one can’t use R or similar languages, they cannot work on real world data. One need not be an expert in coding but basic knowledge is always helpful. Eligibility Requirements Preferred Educational Qualifications The debate regarding the best qualification in order to learn Data Science is still pretty much on. A few experts claiming that a Bachelor’s degree with good practical skills can do the trick, while others believe a Master’s degree or a PhD is needed to prove your skills in this field. However, as aptly mentioned in Data Science: A Introduction/ A Mash-up of Disciplines, this field is a mash-up of several disciplines like Math, Science, Advanced Computing, Visualization, Data Engineering, Hacker Mindset, and Domain expertise. It's therefore di cult to single out a particular field which can act as a pre-requisite for learning data science. In general, one will find a minimum of 80% of the data scientists with a Master’s degree and about 40% having a PhD qualification. The most common fields of study are Mathematics and Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, and Engineering, among others. Though a few institutes are planning to launch a Bachelor’s degree programs which will be in line with the Computer Science programs, training is generally provided at the Master’s degree level. Apart from these programs, a number of institutes o er certification training in online, live-virtual classroom, and classroom learning modes, to facilitate students across the globe. DIGITAL MARKETING Vital Stats Often referred to as ‘online marketing’, ‘internet marketing’ or ‘web marketing’, digital marketing has gained popularity over the last decade. With the advent of e-commerce websites, the scope for a digital marketer has increased multifold. Online Marketing is booming and this industry numerous career opportunities for candidates who hold appropriate training and education. Online Marketing has now become an in-demand skill that is used to launch and manage successful businesses online. There is no single governing body for digital marketing courses. However, Google, OMCP, Online Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, etc. are a few well-known names in the online marketing training arena. Industry Relevance Fresh graduates Business owners Web Designers Web Marketers Professionals in their early career Marketing Professionals Salary The certification is a stamp of approval for domain knowledge in the field of online marketing. This enhances the job prospects of individuals enabling them to gain entry in various Fortune 500 and Ecommerce companies like Amazon, Ebay and other top organizations. A survey conducted on Moz.org reported that the global average salary of online marketers is $65,766 and Entry level salaries start at around $35,000. The average salary for online marketers in the United States is $86,253. The job market is very hot and there is a very strong demand to fill positions in the future. OMCP Certification Skills Knowledge of Data Analysis Content Marketing Email Marketing SEO & PPC Data Visualization
My coworkers used their PMP cert class to get PMI accredited 35 PDU's for the PMI exam. 2 out of 4 passed first time , one passed second and one only failed once and planning to retake an exam. The cost was around 100 USD. That included pre recorded lectures, PDF doc info and MOP exams.
