A couple of weeks ago, we posted a blog that examined the benefits of making New Year’s Resolutions to further advance your career with IT Certifications. If you have taken our advice, the next step is deciding which specific certifications to get. This can be a daunting task, as there are so many to choose from.
Your decision-making process will depend a lot on the career you are in at the moment, and what your personal aspirations are. To help you out, we have outlined what the top 5 IT certifications are expected to be in 2018. Here we go:
1. The Certified Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC):
The course and exam to attain this certification are currently offered by the ISACA. The ideal candidate for this track is the mid-level IT Manager, or even Project Manager, whose primary job function is to mitigate Cyber risks and threats via the use of complex technology controls. It is a popular certification, as there are more than 20,000 people worldwide who have it. IT professionals and managers that have this certification command an annual salary of $131,298.00.
2. The Certified Information Security Manager (CISM):
This is more of a managerial based certification, and not quite as technical as the CRISC. For example, the ideal candidate is one whose main job function is to analyze and recommend a set of best practices for implementing Security safeguards. This certification also covers areas in governance policy and risk management as well. Individuals whom have this certification command an annual salary of $128,156.00.
3. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect:
There is no doubt that the Cloud is going to proliferate in demand in the coming years, especially that of the Amazon Web Services (AWS). At the present time, Amazon is the leading Cloud provider, only slightly edging out Microsoft with its Azure platform. Thus, the need for highly qualified Cloud professionals will also be in high demand. In this regard, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification is designed for those individuals whom have some level of expertise in the design and deployment of Cloud solutions on the AWS platform. This certification is expected to become even more popular down the road, as only 10,000 individuals currently have it; and the average salary is at $125,091.00.
4. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP):
This is much more of a general type of IT certification, and it has been around for a long time, thus establishing its high levels of credibility. It is currently being offered by the (ISC)2, and the exam covers ten specific domains of knowledge, including the following:
- Security/Risk Management;
- Communications/Network Security;
- Software Development Security;
- Asset Security;
- Identity/Access Management;
- Security Engineering;
- Security Operations;
- Security Training and Assessment.
The IT professional that possesses the CISSP commands an annual salary of $121,729.00.
5. The Project Management Professional (PMP):
Aside from the CISSP, this too is one of the most regarded and established IT certifications that an individual can obtain. This has been at the top of the list for many years, and is expected to continue to do so. This certification examines the skill set of an individual that are needed in order to successfully execute an IT software development project. It encompasses the entire gamut of the project management life-cycle, which includes the following:
- Project initiation;
- Project execution;
- Project monitoring;
- Project controlling;
- Project closing.
There are currently over 730,000 individuals worldwide that have the PMP, and they command a salary of at least $119,349.00
Finally, when choosing a certification, it is very important to think about the career benefits in the long term. A future blog post will examine in more detail a much newer type of certification called the Cyber Security Analyst (CSA+). Given the cyber threat landscape today, this will also be an explosive and high demand certification.
Do you need help in deciding which IT certification you should get? Contact us for more information!
