SAMPLE IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index TM. North America. Foote Partners, LLC. Market values for 774 IT skills and certifications

Transcription

1 SAMPLE 2015 Quarterly IT Insider Compensation Series 2015 IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index TM North America Market values for 774 IT skills and certifications Market trend analyses: Pay performance and volatility 1st Quarter 2015 Data Edition (Data collected through April 1, 2015) The compensation and analysis data in this report are updated four times per year: The compensation January 10, data 2015 in this report is updated April four 7, times 2015 per year: July 12, 2015 January October 12, 10, Copyright 2015 by Foote Partners LLC ( All Rights Reserved. This publication may not be reproduced in any form, contents may not be extracted, disclosed, distributed, disseminated, published, or sold in any form or format, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of Foote Partners.

2 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index (ITSCPI TM ) Q data Table of Contents Page Fundamentals/Using the ITSCPI Using this benchmark research report Research participant metrics and cities surveyed. 6 1st Quarter 2015data edition coverage 8 New skills and certifications this edition IT skills and certifications surveyed and reported.. 11 IT Skills/Certifications Pay Market Trend Charts year skills/certs pay performance trends /6/12/24 month pay premium trends IT certifications Noncertified IT skills IT Skills and Certifications Volatility Index 26 Quarterly Recap: Q vs. Q st Quarter 2015 Volatility Index and 9-year history IT certifications Q Noncertified IT skills Q st Quarter 2015 Skills/Certifications Pay Data Charts 31 IT Certifications Noncertified IT Skills ADDENDUM ITSCPI Certifications Guidebook (262 pages) x

3 Foote Partners 2015 IT Compensation Survey Products Map 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index (ITSCPI TM ) Q data This survey report Survey Demographics 65 US/18 Canadian cities 203,000 IT workers 2,705 employers 45+ industries Updated continuously. IT Professional Salary Survey (170 Jobs, 26 IT job families) IT Skills & Certification Pay Index TM (774 skills/certs) IT Skills Demand and Pay Trends Report IT Skills HOT LISTS Forecast JOB FAMILIES AVAILABLE: - Business Technology - Business Applications Delivery - Cloud Computing (coming in 15) - Data Analytics - Data Management - Data Warehousing/BI - Database Administration - Database Developers - e-commerce/e-business - Enterprise Applications - Enterprise Infrastructure - Epic Systems - Help Desk - IT Architecture - IT Security - Internets/intranets/extranets - Java Developers - Lotus Notes/Domino - Messaging - Mobile Applications (coming in 15) -.NET Developers - Network Eng. & Operations - Project Management - SAP - Six Sigma - Social Media - Storage/SAN/NAS - Systems Eng. & Operations - Unix/NT/Linux - Voice Engineering - Web/I-net Salary Reports by job family by job family clusters for individual jobs in selected cities IT Infrastructure Survey IT Base Positions Survey Long-form Job Descriptions updated continuously comprehensive, includes internal/external relationships key to job success; skills and certification; detailed experience factors. Short-form Job Profiles (JD excerpts) IT Salary+Skills Pay Survey Reports SALARY+SKILLS REPORTS AVAILABLE: Applications Development Business Analysts/Business Technology Database Data Warehousing/Business Intelligence E-Commerce IT Architecture Microsoft Windows Networking Operations & Engineering Project Management SAP IT Security Systems Engineering and Administration Web/I-net IT Skills Volatility Index Copyright 2015 by Foote Partners LLC ( All Rights Reserved. This publication may not be reproduced in any form, contents may not be extracted, disclosed, distributed, disseminated, published, or sold in any form or format, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of Foote Partners.

4 Using the ITSCPI Using Foote Partners 2015 IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index TM What is IT skills and certifications pay and why is it so popular? It is common practice today for employers to isolate, recognize and reward (with cash) experience in a variety of specific technical and business skills. Pay for these skills, both certified and noncertified, is usually provided in the form of a premium employers are willing to pay workers who possess high-value technology skills used on the job. Such pay may be applied in the form of a cash bonus (or it may be embedded in base salary, though rarely) to adjust for the presence of a dominant vendor or technology; for example a Cisco Network Engineer, Python Software Engineer, Red Hat Linux Systems Administrator, or SAP Developer. Incorporating skills premiums in an employer s compensation program has gained much popularity in recent years. Why? Because it is an effective solution to the dreaded long-standing problem of job titles that don't match what people actually do on-the-job. These days it is common to find Linux, Unix, and NT administrators lumped together under a single "Systems Administrator" titles. Or.NET, Java, Python, Ruby on Rails, SAP, and even Cobol specialists all with "Programmer" or "Developer" titles. But some of these skills are worth more than others in the marketplace. Benchmarking salaries of these various IT specialists to a single job title in a salary survey if you can even find the job title -- typically results in salary mismatches. Wouldn t it just be easier to change the person s job title to reflect the skill specializations? For example, software developers who work exclusively with Java FX become "Java FX Developers" and engineers in the Cisco environment world be "Cisco Network Administrators". Tthere is much resistance in doing this with employers who are wary of the complexities that accompany job title proliferation. Instead, they have learned to simply differentiate workers within common job titles by offering skills premium pay in order to match their pay to the job titles they should have. It's a lot less unwieldy than going through a laborious job evaluation process and doubling the number of job titles needing to graded, leveled, and market priced. This is where our IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM comes in handy: it tells you exactly what the bonus or base pay adjustment should be for 774 certified and noncertified IT skills based on current compensation information collected at 2,705 carefully selected employers in U.S. and Canada. Are there other uses for skills pay? Absolutely. Skills pay can be offered as an inducement in recruiting a prospective employee via internal transfer, or as a basis for a sign-on bonus for securing external candidates on the open market. Skills pay can also used as a de facto retention bonus. This may be without regard to other variables such as low/no-cash incentives, merit and bonus pay not connected to specific skills (e.g. profit sharing), work/lifestyle benefits, and other important add-ons not tied specifically to cash compensation for individual performance. Progressive employers build skills pay into their career development and training programs, using it as a short term incentive element to attract workers to drive their career choices to strategic initiatives and hot projects. x

5 Using the ITSCPI Is a certain level of performance necessary to receive a skill or certification premium? Our research indicates that while some employers may attach a performance basis for skills payout, others do not. The trend is towards companies devising measurable performance hurdles whenever possible. How did Foote Partners invent IT skills pay surveying? How does it collect this data? Foote Partners primary research report for skills and professional certifications pay is the IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM (ITSCPI), which tracks premium pay for 774 IT certifications and noncertified skills and is continuously updated and published every three months. Updated data in this edition was collected through April 1, 2015, including 56,667 validated IT professionals receiving premium pay for their skills and/or certifications. Employers have been paying for tech skills for some time but they have been notoriously reluctant to create formal programs to do so. That s because they want to pay for skills selectively without feeling obligated to pay all holders of any one skill or certification equally, or even at all. This has made it much more labor intensive and expensive for IT compensation survey firms to capture such data. Though many have tried and failed, Foote Partners ITSCPI---launched in remains the first and now the only survey of its kind still in existence. It has set a high bar since the start as the industry s most comprehensive and most accurate We are a different kind of compensation surveyor. Our unique data collection methodology lends itself very well to capturing both informal and formal pay practices and to do it more economically. Our survey reveals that nearly 40 percent the 203,000 private and public sector IT workers in our North American survey receive some form of skills pay, and of that number we are able to both document and validate skills pay data for approximately 70 percent of them. From our HR department and non-hr research partner sources we receive all formal and informal IT compensation data in the form of electronic databases, spreadsheets, and hard copy. We update our data collection weekly and publish the results every ninety days. With this critical data in hand, Foote Partners spends significant time on the delicate and critical task of validating the data including direct interviewing and aggressive interactive surveying. We do not collect skills pay data from workers themselves but instead from their HR and compensation staffs and in some cases from managers and executives who possess the identical data. We collect and compile skills and certifications data continuously and make those results available to our retainer and consulting customers on-demand. Everybody else may purchase one or more of 30 individual quarterly updated off-the-shelf compensation surveys published quarterly by Foote Partners that contains subject area and domain specific skills data excerpts from the ITSCPI report. x

6 Using the ITSCPI Using the ITSCPI, cont. This ITSCPI reports pay in the following classifications, for full-time IT workers only (these premiums do not apply to contractors or consultants): Skills: Systems/Networking Operating Systems Web/e-Commerce Development Messaging and Communications Apps Development Tools and Platforms SAP and Enterprise Business Applications Database Project Experience Management, Process and Methodology Certifications: General/Beginner and Training Application Development/Programming Languages Database Web Development Networking and Communications Systems Administration and Engineering IT Security Architecture/Project Management/Process How is the data presented? Noncertified or certified IT skills 10 th,,50 th and 90 th percentile data % of Base Salary/4Q 2006 Certifications - Database P10 Median P90 Oracle DBA Administrator Certified Master (OCM) 10% 12% 15% Teradata Certified Master 9% 12% 14% IBM DB2 Universal Database Certified Solutions Expert (DB2) 8% 10% 12% 8% 10% 12% Values displayed are expressed as a percent of base pay. Could be applied as a base salary adjustment, bonus or other element of variable pay. x

7 Using the ITSCPI Using the ITSCPI, cont. Research participant metrics IT compensation data for our latest research findings (collected through April 1, 2015) represents 40 private sector industries plus government and educational institutions surveyed every three months. The size of the participating organizations, measured most appropriately for the type of business, by revenues, assets, total premiums and operating budgets, are as follows 18% of participating organizations have $3 billion+ in sales/$15+ billion in total assets 28% of participating organizations earn more than $1 billion in annual revenues or more than $3 billion in total assets 46% of participating organizations have $500+ million in sales/$1+ billion in total assets/$500+ million in premiums/$500+ million operating budget (government, educational, not-for-profit) 54% of participating organizations fall in the SMB (small-to-medium sized business) segment, generally defined as organization under $500 million in sales. [Public sector] 5% have operating budgets of $500 million or more, [nonprofit/educational sectors] 4% with operating budgets $100 million to less than $500 million Following are among the most frequent industries we survey: Advertising Aerospace Business Services/For Profit Commercial Banking/Securities Diversified Systems Integrators/IT Services Construction/Engineering/Architecture Consumer Durable Goods Diversified Financial Services Education Electronics Energy/Mining Entertainment/Recreation/Amusement Food/Beverage/Tobacco Government (Fed/Defense) Government (Local) Government (State) Healthcare Services/Medical Equip. Hospitality/Leisure Household/Personal Products Insurance ISP/ASP Logistics/Transportation Manufacturing/computerrelated Manufacturing/non-computer related Media/Publishing Metals/Natural Resource Motor Vehicles and Equipment Not-For-Profit Petrochemicals Pharmaceuticals/Biotech Real Estate Research and Development Retail/Wholesale Distribution Security Products/Services Software/Services Systems Integrators/IT Services Telecommunications/Carrier Telecommunications/Data services Transportation(Air/Rail) Utilities x

8 Using the ITSCPI Cities and Metropolitan Areas Surveyed 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index Canada Calgary, ALTA Edmonton, ALTA Halifax, NS Hamilton, ONT Kitchner, ONT London, ONT Mississauga, ONT Montreal, QUE Oshawa, ONT Ottawa, ONT Quebec, QUE Regina, SASK Saskatoon, SASK St. Catherines, ONT Toronto, ONT Vancouver, BC Windsor, ONT Winnipeg, MAN United States Atlanta, GA Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM Austin, TX Baltimore, MD Birmingham, AL Boston, MA Buffalo, NY Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Cincinnati, OH Cleveland/Akron,OH Columbus, OH Colorado Springs, CO Dallas, TX Dayton, OH Detroit, MI Denver, CO Des Moines, IA Grand Rapids, MI Greensboro/Winston- Salem, NC Greenville/Spartanburg/ Anderson, SC Hartford, CT Houston, TX Indianapolis/Ft Wayne Kansas City, MO Las Vegas, NV Long Island, NY Los Angeles/Orange Cty,CA Louisville, KY Madison, WI Memphis, TN Miami, FL Milwaukee, WI Minneapolis, MN Nashville, TN New Jersey/Northern New Orleans New York City, NY Norfolk/Virginia Beach/ Newport News, VA Oakland/Walnut Creek/ Concord CA Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Orlando, FL Peoria, IL Philadelphia/So. NJ Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA San Diego, CA Portland, OR Princeton/So. NJ Providence, RI Raleigh/Durham, NC Richmond, VA Sacramento, CA Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Seattle, WA St. Louis, MO Tampa, FL Tulsa, OK Upper Fairfield County/ New Haven, CT Washington, DC Westchester County, NY/ Lower Fairfield Cty, CT x

9 Content in this edition: IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM 1st Quarter 2015 edition: Survey Coverage New skills and certifications added Pg 9 All IT skills and certifications surveyed Pg. 11 x

10 New IT Skills Coverage NONCERTIFIED IT SKILLS Recent Additions to the ITSCPI The following noncertified skills have been added to the IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index in the past 12 months, for a total of 406 noncertified skills now being reported. New skills in this edition are in red. Active Directory ActiveMQ AngularJS Ansible Apache Ant Apache Camel Apache Cloudstack Apache Cordova Apache Flume Apache Maven Apache Zookeeper Arista Automated Testing CA Endevor Clojure COBIT Content management systems Data mining DevOps Game Development HP Quality Center IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) Java Messaging Service Jenkins JIRA Magento Microsoft Application Virtualization (AppV) Microsoft Azure Microsoft CVMM OpenStack Oracle Coherence Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle ERP Oracle Financials Oracle HRMS PaaS (Platform as a service) Program Management R language Salt SAP MRS (Multi Resource Scheduling) Scala Secure software development Sqoop Test Driven Development/Scripting TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks TIBCO Rendezvous TIBCO Spotfire User Acceptance Testing Video/graphics editing Waterfall Workday HCM x

11 New IT Skills Coverage IT CERTIFICATIONS Recent Additions to the ITSCPI The following certified skills have been added to the IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index in the past 12 months, for a total of 368 certifications now being reported. New this edition in red. AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate BICSI ITS Technician Certification of Competency in Business Analysis Certified Business Analysis Professional Certified Business Continuity Professional Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CCSI) Certified Computer Examiner Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge Certified in Convergent Network Technologies Certified Data Centre Management Professional Certified Disaster Recovery Engineer Certified IT Architect (IASA CITA) Certified Manager of Software Quality (CMSQ) Certified Software Quality Analyst: (CSQA) Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist Cisco Certified Network Associate Voice Cisco Certified Network Associate - Data Center Cisco Certified Network Professional - Data Center Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist Citrix Certified Associate - Apps and Desktops Citrix Certified Expert - Apps and Desktops Citrix Certified Instructor (CCI - Virtualization, Networking, or Mobility) Citrix Certified Professional - Apps and Desktops Citrix Certified Professional Mobility (CCP-M) Cloudera Certified Professional: Data Scientist Cloudera Certified Specialist in Apache HBase CompTIA Mobility+ CompTIA Mobile App Security+ EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional EC-Council Certified Network Defense Architect EMC Data Science Associate GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analyst (GPPA) HDI Customer Service Representative (HDI-CSR) HDI Desktop Support Manager HDI Desktop Support Technician HDI Support Center Analyst HDI Support Center Team Lead HP ATP - Storage Solutions V1 HP ASE - Storage Solutions Integrator V1 HP Vertica HP Vertica Big Data Solutions Administrator IBM Certified Solution Developer - DB2 SQL Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Data Platform Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate: SQL Server 2012 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Communications Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate: SQL Server 2012 Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Data Platform Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Server Infrastructure Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2008 Mongo DB Certified DBA Mongo DB Certified Developer Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11G Certified Implementation Specialist Oracle VM 3.0 for x86 Certified Implementation Specialist Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator RSA Certified Instructor (RSA/CI) Salesforce.com Certified Technical Architect SAS Certified Data Integration Developer for SAS 9 SAS Certified Predictive Modeler SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Six Sigma Master Black Belt Six Sigma Black Belt VMware Certified Associate - Workforce Mobility (VCA-WM) VMware Certified Associate - Cloud (VCA-Cloud) VMware Certified Advanced Professional Cloud Infrastructure Administration (VCAP-CIA) VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) VMware Certified Design Expert 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCDX5-DCV) VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration (VCAP-DCA) VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Design (VCAP-DCD) VMware Certified Associate - Data Center Virtualization (VCA- DCV) x

12 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 406 Noncertified IT Skills in latest IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM edition Apps Develop. Tools & Platforms Agile Programming/RAD/EP Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, ASW, SQS, ELB, et. al.) Apache Ant Apache Cordova Apache Flex Apache Hadoop Apache Maven Apache Pig/Pig Latin Apache Struts/Struts2 Apache Tomcat Apache Zookeeper Automated Testing Business Objects C C# C++ /CLI Clarity PPM Clojure Cloudera software Cobol Cognos Delphi Drupal Eclipse Epic Systems applications F# Groovy/Grails Hibernate irise Java/J2SE, ME, J2EE Jenkins JIRA MapReduce MATLAB Microsoft Azure NetWeaver Objective-C Oracle Apps Developer Framework PL/SQL Powerbuilder Progress 4GL/Development tools R language Ruby Ruby on Rails Saas SAS Scala Scrum SQL Windows Apps Development, cont. Tcl Transact-SQL UML (unified modeling language) Visual Basic 6.0 Visual C++ Visual J++ WebSphereMQ Xcode Web/e-Commerce Development Active Server Pages ActiveX Ajax AngularJS Apache Solr Apache web server CGI Cold Fusion MX Content management systems CSS/CSS3 Documentum Google App Engine HTML5 JavaBeans/EJB 3.0 JavaFX JavaScript Java Server Pages JBoss Enterprise Joomla! jquery JSON Magento Microsoft BizTalk Server Microsoft Commerce Server Microsoft Identity Integration Server Internet Information Services Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA) Microsoft Sharepoint Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft.NET Mobile applications development Oracle Fusion Oracle WebLogic Oracle Workflow Perl PHP (all) Web/e-Commerce Development, cont. Python REST RESTful Secure software development SOAP Social Media/Networks Spring Framework TIBCO VBScript Video/graphics editing Visual Interdev VoiceXML Web collaboration appliances WebSphere WebSphere Datapower Wikis WSDL XAML/XACML XHTML MP XML (all variants) Operating Systems AIX Apache Cloudstack HP-UX Linux Mac OS X Mobile operating systems(ios, Android) OpenStack Red Hat Enterprise Linux Solaris Unix (all) VMware vsphere Windows 8/7 Windows NT Windows Server 2008/2003 x

13 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 406 Noncertified IT Skills Surveyed cont. SAP & Enterprise Business Applications ABAP (all modules) Baan J.D. Edwards Lawson Microsoft Dynamics NetWeaver NetWeaver Portal (SAP EP) Oracle BPM Oracle CRM Oracle E-Business suite Oracle ERP Oracle Financials Oracle HRMS Oracle SCM Peoplesoft Remedy Salesforce Accelerated SAP (SLM) SAP AFS SAP ALE SAP APO SAP Auto-ID infrastructure SAP Banking SAP Basis Components SAP BI Accelerator SAP BODI SAP BODS SAP BOXI SAP BPC SAP BSP SAP Business One SAP Business Workflow/Webflow SAP CA SAP CAF SAP CCM SAP CE SAP CFM SAP CO SAP CO-PA SAP CRM SAP Crystal Reports SAP CS SAP EBP SAP EDI SAP EHS SAP EPM SAP ERP SAP ESA SAP FI (Financial Accounting) SAP FI - CA SAP FI FSCM SAP FI - Travel Management SAP FS (Insurance) SAP GRC SAP GTS SAP HANA ( In-Memory Appliance) SAP HCM (SAP HR) SAP HCM ESS/MSS SAP HR-PA SAP IM SAP IS-U (Utilities) SAP ITS SAP KW SAP LES SAP LO SAP Manufacturing SAP MDM SAP MDX SAP MI SAP MII SAP MM SAP MRO SAP MRS SAP Netweaver Applications Server SAP Netweaver BW (BIW) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer SAP NWDI SAP Oil & Gas SAP PI (NetWeaver Process Integ.) SAP PLM SAP PM SAP PP SAP PS SAP PSCD SAP Public Sector Management SAP PY (Payroll) SAP QM SAP Retail SAP Service & Asset Mgt. SAP SCM SAP SD SAP SD - GTS SAP Security SAP SEM SAP SM SAP Smart Forms SAP Solution Manager SAP SRM SAP TM SAP Web Application Server SAP WEBI SAP WM SAP WM EWM SAP Xcelsius Siebel Software AG webmethods SuccessFactors Web Dynapro Workday HCM Messaging & Communications ActiveMQ Apache Camel Java Messaging Service Lotus Notes/Domino Message-oriented Middleware (Wave, XMPP/Jabber, etc.) Microsoft Exchange Novell Groupwise Outlook/cc:mail/various clients Oracle Comm Messaging Server TIBCO Enterprise Message Service TIBCO Rendezvous Unified Communications/Messaging x

14 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 406 Noncertified IT Skills Surveyed cont. Systems/Networking Active Directory Ansible Apache Flume APPC Arista ATM Business continuity and disaster recovery planning CA Endevor Chef/Opscode Cisco CUCM Cisco ICM Cisco IPCC CiscoNexus Cisco UCCE Cisco UCCX Citrix XenApp Citrix XenServer Cloud architecture Cloud security DHCP EIGRP Ethernet Fast Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet(1 GigE/10 GigE) HP Converged System HP Quality Center HTTPS IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) Infrastructure architecture Intrusion prevention/detection systems IPX/SPX LAN LTE Microsoft Application Virtualization Microsoft CVMM Microsoft Hyper-V Microsoft Virtual Server Mobile device management Mobile security Multiprotocol Label Switching Network access control/identity mgt systems NAS/Network Attached Storage Network security management Novell Netware PaaS Systems/Networking, cont. Puppet Rackspace Cloud Routing (e.g. OSPF) Salt SAN/Storage Area Networks Security skills (project-based) SIP (all variants) SMTP SNA SolarWinds Storage administration TCP/IP Tivoli vcloud Virtualization Virtual security VMware Server VoIP/IP telephony VPN/OpenVPN WAN/3G/4G services WAP Wireless Network Mgmnt Wireline Networking/ Telecomm. Wireless sensors/rfid WML Management, Methodologies and Process Big Data Analytics Business Analysis Business intelligence Business process management/ modeling/improvement Business performance management (software/systems) Capacity Planning/Management Change management COBIT Collaboration software Complex Event Processing/Event Correlation Configuration Management Continuous Integration CRM Cryptography (encryption, VPN, Hybrids) Cybersecurity Management, Methodologies and Process cont. Data Architecture Data Governance Data Management Data Modelling DevOps E-Procurement ERP Game Development Information management IT Governance ITIL V3 Marketo Microsoft Visio Predictive Analytics and Modeling Prescriptive Analytics Product lifecycle management SW Program Management Project management/governance Quality management/tqm Quantitative Analysis/Regression Analysis Requirements Engineering/Analysis Risk assessment/analysis Risk management Security architecture and models SEO Service Management Social media marketing Six Sigma/Lean Six Sigma Test automation Test Driven Development/Scripting TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks TOGAF (Enterprise Architecture) User Acceptance Testing User Experience Design Waterfall x

15 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 392 Noncertified IT Skills Surveyed cont. Database Apache Cassandra Apache CouchDB Apache Hive Base SAS Couchbase Server Database management Data mining Data security DB2 dbase/xbase ETL (Extract, transform, load) Hbase Informatica Java Database Connectivity Master data management Microsoft Access Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft SQL Server MongoDB MySQL NoSQL Oracle Application Server Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus Oracle Coherence Oracle DB 9i/10g/11i/12c Oracle Exadata Oracle Forms Oracle Enterprise Manager OpenEdge ABL (Progress 4GL) Redis Riak Sqoop Sybase Adaptive Server TIBCO Spotfire Visual SQL x

16 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 368 Certified IT Skills in latest IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM edition Avaya Certified Implementation Specialist Avaya Certified Professional Design Specialist Avaya Certified Solution Specialist AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional AWS Certified SysOpsAdministrator-Associate BICSI ITS Technician Brocade Certified Network Engineer Brocade Certified Network Professional Brocade Certified Fabric Designer Brocade Certified Fabric Professional (BCFP) Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA) Certified Associate in Project Management) Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) Certified Computer Examiner (CCE) Certified Computing Professional (CCP-ISC2) Certified in Convergent Network Technologies (CCNT) Certified Database Design Specialist Certified Data Centre Management Professional (CDCMP) Certified Data Management Professional Certified Disaster Recovery Engineer (C/DRE) Certified Force.com Developer (Salesforce.com) Certified Force.com Advanced Developer Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Certified IT Architect (IASA CITA) Certified Manager of Software Quality (CMSQ) Certified Protection Professional Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) Certified Technical Architect (Salesforce.com) Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS) Check Point Certified Master Architect (CCMA) Check Point Certified Security Administrator (CCSA) Check Point Certified Security Expert (CCSE) Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CCSI) Cisco ASA Specialist Cisco Certified Architect Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP) Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician (CCENT) Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP) Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Cisco Certified Network Associate - Data Center Cisco Certified Network Associate - Security Cisco Certified Network Associate - Voice Cisco Certified Network Associate Wireless (CCNP Wireless) Cisco Certified Network Professional Wireless (CCNP Wireless) Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Cisco Certified Network Professional - Data Center Cisco Certified Network Professional - Security Cisco Certified Network Professional Voice (formerly CCVP) Cisco Certified Systems Instructor (CCSI) Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Support Specialist Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist Cisco Firewall Security Specialist Cisco IP Communications Express Specialist Cisco IP Contact Center Express Specialist (CPCC) Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialist Cisco IP Telephony Support Specialist Cisco IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) Specialist Cisco Network Admission Control Specialist Cisco Rich Media Communications Specialist Cisco Unity Design Specialist Cisco Unity Support Specialist Cisco VPN Specialist Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) Citrix Certified Advanced Administrator (CCAA) Citrix Certified Associate - Virtualization Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA) Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) for Virtualization Citrix Certified Expert - Apps and Desktops Citrix Certified Instructor (CCI - Virtualization, Networking, or Mobility) Citrix Certified Integration Architect x

17 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 368 Certified IT Skills in this edition Citrix Certified Professional - Apps and Desktops Citrix Certified Professional Mobility (CCP-M) CIW Associate CIW Certified Database Design Specialist CIW Network Technology Associate CIW Web Design Professional CIW Web Development Professional CIW Web Foundations Associate Master CIW Administrator Master CIW Designer Master CIW Enterprise Developer Master CIW Web Site Manager Cloudera Certified Developer for Apache Hadoop Cloudera Certified Administrator for Apache Hadoop Cloudera Certified Professional: Data Scientist Cloudera Certified Specialist in Apache HBase CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) CompTIA Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+) CompTIA Cloud Essentials CompTIA/Linux Administrator (Linux+) CompTIA Mobility+ CompTIA Mobile App Security+ CompTIA/Network (Network+) CompTIA Project+ CompTIA Security+ CompTIA Server+ CompTIA Storage+ Convergence Technologies Professional (CTP) CWNP Certified Wireless Analysis Professional (CWAP) CWNP/Certified Wireless Design Professional CWNP Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) CWNP Certified Wireless Network Expert (CWNE) CWNP Certified Wireless Network Trainer (CWNT) CWNP Certified Wireless Security Professional (CWSP) CWTS/Certified Wireless Technology Specialist (CWTS) CyberSecurity Forensic Analyst EC-Council Certified Network Defense Architect Certification EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH EC-Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) EC-Council Certified Secure Programmer (ECSP) EC-Council Certified Security Analyst EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional (EDRP) EC-Council Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) EC-Council Network Security Administrator (ENSA) EC-Council Certified VoIP Professional (ECVP) EMC Cloud Architect Expert (IT-as-a-Service) EMC Cloud Architect Specialist (Virtualized Information Infrastructure) EMC Data Science Associate EMC Implementation Engineer Specialist EMC Implementation Engineer - Expert EMC Platform Engineer Specialist EMC Storage Administrator - Backup Recovery EMC Storage Administrator Expert EMC Storage Administrator Specialist EMC System Administrator Specialist EMC Technology Architect Expert EMC Technology Architect Specialist HDI Customer Service Representative HDI Desktop Support Manager HDI Desktop Support Technician HDI Support Center Analyst HDI Support Center Team Lead HP/Accredited Integration Specialist (AIS) HP Accredited Platform Specialist (APS) HP Accredited Systems Engineer--Cloud Architect V2 HP Accredited Systems Engineer--Cloud IntegratorV1 HP Accredited Technical Professional (ATP) HP Accredited Technical Professional-Cloud Administrator HP/Accredited Solutions Expert (ASE - all) HP/Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE) HP/ASE - Data Center and Cloud Architect V1 HP ASE - Storage Solutions Architect V1 HP ASE - Storage Solutions Integrator V1 HP ATP - Storage Solutions V1 HP/Certified Systems Administrator HP/Certified Systems Engineer HP/Master Accredited Solutions Expert (MASE - all) HP Master ASE - Storage Solutions Architect V1 HP/Master Accredited Systems Engineer (Master ASE) HP/Master ASE Data Center and Cloud ArchitectV1 HP Vertica Big Data Solutions Administrator HP Vertica Solutions IBM Advanced Systems Administrator (all) IBM Certified Administrator for SOA Solutions: WebSphere Process Server IBM Certified Advanced Application Developer (all) IBM Certified Advanced Database Administrator IBM Certified Advanced Security Professional x

18 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 368 Certified IT Skills in this edition IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert - Power Systems with AIX v2/v3 IBM Certified Applications Developer (all) IBM Certified Database Administrator IBM Certified Developer - Cognos IBM Certified Infrastructure Systems Architect IBM Certified Operator - AIX Basic Ops IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer IBM Certified Solution Advisor-Cloud Computing Advisor V2 IBM Certified Solution Architect Cloud Computing Infrastructure V1 IBM Certified Solution Designer WebSphere IBM Certified Solution Developer - DB2 SQL IBM Certified Solution Expert - Cognos IBM Certified Solutions Developer: WebSphere (al) IBM Certified Specialist - System z IBM Certified Specialist Cognos IBM Certified Specialist - Storage IBM Certified Systems Administrator IBM Certified Systems Administrator - AIX 7 IBM Certified Systems Administrator - IBM i 6.1 IBM Certified Systems Administrator WebSphere IBM Certified Systems Expert - AIX and Linux v2 (all) IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert - Power Systems with AIX v2 InfoSys Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP/CISSP) InfoSys Security Engineering Professional (ISSEP/CISSP) InfoSys Security Management Professional (ISSMP/CISSP) Open Group Certified Architect Open Group Master Architect ITIL Practitioner Certificate in IT Service Management ITIL Service Manager Certification JBoss Certified Developer (Seam, Persistence, ESB) Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate Juniper Networks Certified Internet Specialist Juniper Networks Certified Internet Professional Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert Linux Professional Institute certification (LPIC-Level 2) Linux Professional Institute certification (LPIC-Level 3) Microsoft Certified Master/Solutions Master(all) Microsoft Certified Applications Developer (MCAD) Microsoft Certified Architect Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP/all) Microsoft Certified IT Professional: DBA Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (all) Microsoft Certified Solution Developer: Applications Lifecycle Management Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate(all) Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate: SQL Server 2012 Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert(all) Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Data Platform Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Desktop Infrastructure Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Private Cloud Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Server Infrastructure Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Communications Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (all) Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) Microsoft MCSA: Security (MCSA: Security) Microsoft MCSE: Security (MCSE: Security) Microsoft Office Specialist Mongo DB Certified DBA Mongo DB Certified Developer NetScout/nGenius Certified Analyst (nca) NetScout/nGenius Certified Expert (nce) NetScout/nGenius Certified Master (ncm) NetScout/nGenius Certified Professional (ncp) Novell Certified Instructor Novell Certified Linux Engineer (Novell CLE) Novell Certified Linux Professional (Novell CLP) Novell/Certified Internet Professional (CIP) Novell/Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) Novell/Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) Novell Identity Manager Administrator Oracle Administrator Certified Associate - DBA (OCA) Oracle Administrator Certified Master - DBA (OCM) Oracle Administrator Certified Professional - DBA (OCP) Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11G Certified Implementation Specialist Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE Programmer Oracle Certified Associate, MySQL 5 Oracle Certified Associate, WebLogic Server Administrator Oracle Certified Expert - MySQL 5.1 Cluster Database Administrator Oracle Certified Expert - Oracle Solaris 10 Systems Administrator x

19 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 368 Certified IT Skills in this edition Oracle Certified Expert - Siebel CRM Business Analyst Oracle Certified Expert - Java Platform EE Developer Oracle Certified Expert - Oracle Solaris 10 Network Administrator for Solaris Oracle Certified Master - Java EE Enterprise Architect Oracle Certified Master - Java SE Developer Oracle Certified Professional - Advanced PL/SQL Developer Oracle Certified Professional - Application Server 10g Administrator Oracle Certified Professional - E-Business Suite Oracle Certified Professional - Java SE Programmer Oracle Certified Professional - Java EE Web Component Developer Oracle Certified Programmer - Java EE Web Services Developer Oracle Certified Professional - MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator Oracle Certified Professional - MySQL 5.0 Developer Oracle Certified Professional - Oracle Solaris 10 Systems Administrator for Solaris Oracle Certified WebLogic Server System Administrator Expert Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle Exadata 11g Certified Implementation Specialist Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate Oracle SOA Infrastructure Implementation Certified Expert Oracle VM 3.0 for x86 Certified Implementation Specialist PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) PMI Program Management Professional (PgMP) PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Infrastructure-as-a-Service Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS) Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS) Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) RedHat Certified Virtualization Administration Certified Windows Security Admin (GCNT) RSA Certified Administrator (RSA/CA) RSA Certified Instructor (RSA/CI) RSA Certified Systems Engineer (RSA/CSE) SANS/GIAC Assessing Wireless Networks SANS/GIAC Auditing Wireless Networks SANS/GIAC Certified Firewall Analyst SANS/GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst SANS/GIAC Certified Forensics Examiner SANS/GIAC Certified Incident Handler SANS/GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst SANS/GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester SANS/GIAC Certified Penetration Tester GIAC Certified Perimeter Protection Analyst SANS/GIAC Certified Project Manager SANS/GIAC Certified Security Essentials SANS/GIAC Certified Unix Security Admin SANS/GIAC Certified Web Application Defender SANS/GIAC Enterprise Defender SANS/GIAC Information Security Professional SANS/GIAC Information Security Fundamentals SANS/GIAC Legal Issues in Information Technology and Security SANS/GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware SANS/GIAC Secure Software Programmer Java SANS/GIAC Security Essentials SANS/GIAC/Security Leadership SANS/GIAC Systems and Network Auditor SANS/GIAC Web Application Penetration Salesforce.com Certified Technical Architect SAS Certified Advanced Programmer SAS Certified Base Programmer SAS Certified Data Integration Developer for SAS 9 SAS Certified Predictive Modeler SAS Enterprise Miner 7 SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst SAS 9 Security Certified Network Architect (SCNA) Security Certified Network Specialist (SCNS) Siebel 8 Consultant Certified Expert Six Sigma Black Belt Six Sigma Master Black Belt SNIA Certified Storage Architect SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E) SNIA Certified Storage Professional SNIA Certified Systems Engineer Sniffer Certified Expert SolarWinds Certified Professional (SCP) Sun Certifications (SEE ORACLE) x

20 2015 IT Skills and Certifications Surveyed Q data 368 Certified IT Skills in this edition Systems Security Certified Professional (SSCP) Teradata 12 Certified Associate Teradata 12 Certified Database Administrator Teradata 12 Certified Enterprise Architect Teradata 12 Certified Master Teradata 12 Certified Professional Teradata 12 Certified Solutions Developer Teradata 12 Certified Technical Specialist TIBCO Certified Professional TIBCO Certified SOA Architect TOGAF 9 Certified VMware Certified Advanced Professional VMware Certified Advanced Professional Cloud Infrastructure Design (VCAP-CID) VMware Certified Advanced Professional Cloud Infrastructure Administration (VCAP-CIA) VMware Certified Associate - Workforce Mobility (VCA- WM) VMware Certified Associate - Cloud (VCA-Cloud) VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) VMware Certified Design Expert - Cloud (VCDX-Cloud) VMware Certified Design Expert 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCDX5-DCV) VMware Certified Professional (VCP) VMware Certified Professional-Cloud (VCP-Cloud) VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) x

21 ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM 1 st Quarter 2015 data edition x

22 ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition 11.0% 10.0% 10.2 What is an Individual IT Skill or Certification Worth? Quarterly Average Median Pay for 774 Skills/Certs Since 2001 (expressed as equivalent percent of base salary) NOTE: Values are expressed as % of base salary but may or may not be paid as part of salary. 9.0% 8.0% 7.0% 6.0% Chart data has been shielded % 7.28% 5.0% 4.0% 3.0% 2015 Foote Partners LLC Source: Foote Partners' IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM, editions x

23 % Change in Market Value (through 4/1/2015) Foote Partners, LLC ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition Pay Performance, 3/12/24/24/36 months Certified vs. Noncertified IT Skills (56,667 IT professionals) 3 Yr Growth/Decline in Premium Pay for 774 IT Skills and Certifications 9.0% 9.67% 7.0% 5.0% 3.0% 1.0% -1.0% 5.8% 5.4% Chart data has been shielded 3.8% 3.23% 1.70% 1.35% 0.96% 1.40% 0.86% -3.0% Source: Foote Partners, IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM (1Q2012 1Q2015 editions) -5.0% 3 mos 368 IT certifications 406 Noncertified IT skills 6 mos Annual 2 years 3 years x

24 Ave. Premium Pay for Individual Skill or Certification (expressed as % of Base Pay): Foote Partners, LLC ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition Premium Pay for Certified and Noncertified IT Skills Has Become a Popular Component of IT Compensation as IT Organizations Transform Themselves (Average Median Pay for a Single Certified vs. Noncertified IT Skill, Last 8 years 56,667 IT professionals) 10.0% 8 Yr Growth Decline in Pay for IT Skills and Certifications (774 skills, through April 1, 2015) 9.5% 9.0% 8.5% 8.0% 7.5% 7.0% Chart data has been shielded 1 2 Pay for IT certifications is up for 7 consecutive quarters after 8 years of continual decline 6.5% 6.0% 5.5% 5.0% 4.5% Key - MAJOR ECONOMIC LEGISLATION PASSED 1. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2. Sequestration (Amer. Taxpayer Relief Act 2012) x Source: Foote Partners, IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index TM (1Q2007 1Q 2015 editions) IT Skills

25 ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition 2 YEAR IT CERTIFICATIONS PAY TRENDS (Through 4/1/ ,667 IT Professionals) Average Pay - Single Cert (expressed as a % of base salary) # of certs surveyed 1Q Q Q 2015 Change in Average Premium Pay by Category % Change 3 mos % Change 6 mos % Change % Change ANNUAL 2 yrs IT CERTIFICATIONS CATEGORIES Foundation level and Training % 2.80% 4.25% 21.4% 41.7% 51.8% 51.8% Apps Development/Prog. Languages % 6.35% 6.65% 0.8% 1.9% 4.7% 11.4% Database % 7.71% 7.80% 0.1% -0.6% 1.2% 2.0% Chart data has been shielded Web Development % 3.00% 3.00% 3.1% 3.1% 0.0% 3.1% Networking & Communications % 5.78% 5.80% -1.5% -2.1% 0.2% 1.8% System Administration/Engineering % 6.65% 6.94% 1.6% 1.8% 4.4% 12.4% Information Security % 8.81% 9.01% 0.3% 0.7% 2.3% 8.0% Architecture/Project Management/Process % 10.83% 10.94% -1.9% -0.2% 1.0% 5.2% ALL CERTIFICATIONS SURVEYED % 7.05% 7.28% 0.86% 1.70% 3.23% 9.67% IT Certifications Premium Pay - by Category, Last 12 Years (Values expressed as equivalent of % of base salary) 13% 12% 3 & 12 MONTH IT CERTIFICATIONS PAY TRENDS BY CATEGORY (Through 4/1/ ,667 IT Professionals) % Change in Average Median Pay for a Single IT Certification 10% 8% Chart data has been shielded Architecture/Project Management/Process Information Security Database <--ALL CERTS Systems Admin/Eng. 6% Apps Dev/Program Languages Networking/Comm. 4% Foundation level & Training SOURCE: Foote Partners IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index TM 2010 to 2014 quarterly editions Web Development 2% x

26 ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition 2 YEAR NONCERTIFIED IT SKILLS PAY TRENDS (Through 4/1/ ,667 IT Professionals) Average Pay - Single Skill (expressed as a % of base salary) # of skills surveyed 1Q Q Q 2015 Change in Average Premium Pay by Category % Change 3 mos % Change 6 mos % Change % Change ANNUAL 2 yrs NONCERTIFIED IT SKILLS CATEGORIES Systems/Networking % 7.34% 7.33% 0.1% -0.7% -0.1% -2.2% Messaging and Communications % 6.50% 7.00% 3.7% 7.7% 7.7% 7.7% SAP & Enterprise Business Applications % 9.03% 8.94% -0.3% -1.0% -1.0% -3.6% Apps Development Tools & Platforms % 8.84% 9.26% 3.1% 3.6% 4.8% 9.0% Chart data has been shielded Web/e-Commerce Development % 7.57% 7.33% -0.9% -0.4% -3.2% -4.2% Database % 9.23% 9.83% 3.5% 4.8% 6.5% 18.6% Operating Systems % 7.17% 7.43% 12.9% 3.7% 3.7% 1.3% Management/Methodology/Process % 13.05% 13.24% 3.1% 3.6% 1.5% 13.2% ALL NONCERTIFIED SKILLS SURVEYED % 8.84% 8.97% 1.35% 0.96% 1.40% 3.80% Noncertified IT Skills Premium Pay - by Category, Last 12 years 14% (Values expressed as equivalent of % of base salary) 13% Management, Methodology, Process 3/12 MONTH NONCERTIFIED IT SKILLS PAY TRENDS BY CATEGORY (Through 4/1/ ,667 IT Professionals) 12% 11% 10% Chart data has been shielded Database % Change in Average Median Pay for a Single IT Noncertified Skill 9% 8% ALL SKILLS Apps Dev Tools/ Platforms SAP/Enterprise Business Apps Web/Ecommerce 7% Systems/Networks Messaging/ Communications SOURCE: Foote Partners IT Skills & Certifications Pay Index TM 2010 to 2014 quarterly editions 6% 5% x

27 ITSCPI Skills/Certifications Pay Trend Charts Q data edition IT Skills and Certifications Volatility Index 1 st Quarter 2015 Data Update (Data collected through April 1, 2015) What is skills volatility? Skills volatility is defined as the incidence of gains or declines in premium pay earned by IT professionals for specific certified and noncertified technical and business skills. Tracking volatility is useful for both analyzing and forecasting demand for skills, for monitoring IT workforce transition, and for understanding IT management decision making. Volatility offers valuable insights that salary movements and hiring behavior do not. Important in this distinction is that skills can be segmented and benchmarked more meaningfully than jobs. Similar to IT positions, there are the broad categories (e.g., security, networking, systems, database, applications development). But also more narrow areas, for example---web/e-commerce development, storage area networking, virtualization, architecture, business process, project management, methodology. But unlike most jobs, within categories or niche are very specific vendor-specific or vendor independent niches and skill specializations that provide more granular analysis (e.g., SAP, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, Microsoft Sharepoint, collaboration appliances, Oracle database). x