A key finding is that non-certified IT skills show significantly more volatility than certifications. Over the past year, an average of 35% of non-certified IT skills changed in market value every 90 days, compared to 19% for IT certifications. Foote Partners explained how each type of skill is valued: non-certified skills are market-driven by employers, while certifications are heavily influenced by vendor-driven promotional marketing.
Beyond AI, the highest-paying non-certified IT skills—earning between 20% and 23% of base salary—include DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering, DataOps, blockchain technologies, Event-Driven Architecture, security architecture, and risk analytics.
On the certification side, skills earning 10% to 13% of base salary include offensive security certifications (such as OSEE, OSEP, and OSWE), GIAC security credentials, and project management certifications like PMI-PMP. Certifications in database/data management, networking and communications, and applications development experienced the steepest pay declines. The average cash pay premium for 648 IT certifications decreased to 6.4% of base salary, while 734 non-certified IT skills decreased to 9.5% of base salary.
According to Foote Partners, certifications decline in value for multiple reasons, such as they expire or they are retired. The research firm explains that as more professionals attain a certification, supply catches up with demand, which drives down market value.
“But just as often it is their popularity that drives down pay premiums for a certification: as interest in a certification escalates and more people attain the certification, the gap between supply and demand for the certification narrows, driving down its market value as the laws of scarcity would dictate,” the report stated.
