- Get certified
Overall, the value of certifications is on the decline. Companies are more likely to look at a job applicant’s past work to gauge expertise than to rely on certification tests that have uncertain benefits in the market, according to Foote Partners.
The average value of the more than 500 technical certifications Foote Partners tracks shrank 1.5% in the last quarter. This continued a two-year decline, to land at the lowest average pay premium in seven years and the widest gap between certified and non-certified tech skills in over a decade.
“They are easy to get, and they don’t confer any sort of expertise. Companies have others ways to determine whether someone knows their stuff or not.”
—David Foote
Information security certifications, however, continue to be valuable, yielding a 9% increase in pay, according to the firm. Application development skills, especially experience with certain tools, has generally matched the average technical certification trend—currently, a 7% pay premium. Nevertheless, demonstrable, though uncertified, skills pay even more—nearly 12%.
Skills to pay the bills, and much more
Overall, software QA testers and engineers should look at security skills as knowledge that will help them not only improve their job performance and add more value to their role in the development cycle, but as a way to further their careers and attain higher pay.
Keep learning
See TechBeacon’s Guide to App Sec Testing and Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for AST.
Learn how to prioritize your open source findings in this December Webinar. Register today.
Find out how a SAST-DAST combo can boost your security in this Webinar replay.
Learn how to build app sec into your software with TechBeacon’s Guide.
Take a deep-dive into the tools landscape with our Application Security Trends and Tools Guide.
Leave a Comment