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Originally Posted On: Top 25 Highest-Paying IT Certifications in 2021 | ExitCertified

It’s probably not news to you that IT certifications are a steppingstone to better pay. That fact alone is reason enough to look into IT training courses. So, if your main goal today is simply to boost your salary, you can scroll down this page right now to get right to this year’s top 25 money-making certifications.

But wait. You’re probably thinking about your career prospects over the longer term, as well. In that case, you’ll want to know about some other benefits of IT training courses that lead to IT certifications.

To begin, IT certifications enable you to take advantage of today’s worldwide shortage of credentialed IT talent. For all the years of talking about a digital transformation, many organizations are still struggling with making that transformation happen. The global move to the cloud is happening in fits and starts, and the results aren’t always living up to the expectations of corporate leadership. But with an IT certification, you have credible, recognized proof of the professional competency that isn’t necessarily available in all the places it’s needed. The cloud is growing rapidly in functionality and sophistication, and the gap in ability between those with and without IT certifications is becoming wider all the time. To understand the implications of closing that gap for yourself, let’s review some recent statistics.

The Benefits of IT Certifications

As we’ve already noted, IT certifications provide in-demand skills that can lead directly to higher pay. That salary-boosting potential is especially relevant to women in technology, as they still lag behind men in terms of compensation and future opportunities.

One reason certifications bring so much value to IT professionals is that they bring even greater value to their employers. A recent IDC Analyst Brief identified four ways in which certifications help organizations carry out their IT strategies. First, your certification gives your employer access to a deeper understanding of the technologies that save time and boost productivity. According to the report, certified application developers are nearly 90 percent more productive and 60 percent more efficient than their noncertified colleagues.

Second, you will be in a position to improve your employer’s operational agility. The report finds that certified IT professionals reduce the impact of unplanned downtime by 56 percent versus noncertified staff.

Third, more than half of the IT managers responding said that certified IT professionals bring more credibility to their roles, and that they improve the implementation of new technology some of which could include SAP, AWS, VMware, or more.

Finally, a certification raises the value of the employee to the enterprise. The IDC report found that IT professionals with just one certification have 2.5 times the influence of noncertified professionals on strategic IT projects during their first year on the job. Simply stated, certifications help the IT professional stand out in the crowd, and that heightened profile is even more significant for women in tech. In this webinar, we discuss the situation and challenges for businesses attempting to upskill IT employees to drive digital transformation and outline the benefits of a single point of contact for multi-vendor training.

IT professionals who pursue certification see the benefits quickly. According to Pearson’s 2021 Value of IT Certification Report, 28 percent of respondents saw their salaries increase after their certification was earned — and these raises came in spite of the financial impact of the pandemic. The personal rewards of certification were even more impressive. Of the professionals surveyed, 91 percent experienced increased confidence, 76 percent felt greater job satisfaction, and 86 percent expressed the intention to pursue additional certifications.

The Top IT Certifications of 2021

Earning an IT certification takes discipline and an ongoing commitment to the relevant IT training courses. Though all certifications have the potential to improve your pay, there are 25 that are commanding the highest salaries in 2021:

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
2. Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE)
3. Certified Data Professional (CDP)
4. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
5. Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
6. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
7. Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
8. Cisco Certified Professional Network Professional (CCNP)
9. Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect
10. Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)
11. Oracle Certified MySQL Database Administrator
12. Project Management Professional (PMP)
13. Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA)
14. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
15. VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization
16. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
17. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
18. Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
19. Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert
20. Cisco Certified Network Associate
21. Oracle Certified Database Developer
22. Salesforce Certified Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer
23. Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC)
24. Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC)
25. Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

Your journey to an IT certification and a better career starts with vendor-approved training from ExitCertified. We offer dozens of pathways to certifications from all the leading IT brands and organizations. And we offer that training in formats that work with the realities of your schedule. In addition to instructor-led sessions, ExitCertified offers On Demand training. It’s the same content and hands-on labs found in our classrooms, but via fully searchable, self-paced lessons that can be stopped, started and repeated as often as you like. Plus, most of our courses are also available through iMVP: an exclusive high-definition virtual platform that delivers fully interactive live instruction.

There’s never been a better time to build your credentials with IT certifications. And there’s no better training provider to get you started than ExitCertified.

ExitCertified is a leading worldwide provider of award-winning, vendor-approved IT training. Since 2001, we’ve been helping our customers build the skills they need to thrive in an era of non-stop digital transformation. Today, we deliver more than 9,500 authorized courses for more than two dozen brands.