These surveys are all biased and commissioned by people with vested interests in the industry. I was once asked to partake in one, It was conducted over the phone and I was urged strongly to give the answers they wanted, when I refused and gave my honest opinion they didn't include me in the survey...

They always want you to attribute salary increase with certification, where in reality its pretty hard to make the correlation.

The survey might as well say 'People with 10+ years good experience and a degree earn more money...'

I would agree to an extent that certs help with raises and getting a new job but its only a contributory factor. Experience is also a vital player.

In the last few years there has been a huge push in IT for people to get certs so obviously training providers are going to show the stats and figures in their favour to get more paying students/customers.

As mentioned on here often people with certs above their experience can have the opposite effect. Progress your certs with your experience.

The other thing to consider is the personal motivation factor.If you've spent a lot of time and/or money on a cert, you are more likely to pull your finger out and try to put it to good use. So it's not the certification finding you a better job or salary - you probably would have got one anyway if you had gone out there with enough determination.Also, if you have spent a lot of time and/or money on a cert, you are more likely to lie on a survey so that you don't look like a complete chisel who has just wasted both.I think that the other side of the coin is the number of people who spend a lot of time/money on certification and then don't get anywhere at all because they are basically wasters who thought that getting a piece of paper would magically transform them to a better place. Bu rights, the vast majority of the survey report should be a massive flatline.

They have helped me a little, but usually doing them also meant that I promised a few extras and it was the overall impression of the work I achieved that helped.

There is going the be a predetermination that those that make more effort are likely to get more promotions and pay rises. Studying in your spare time is likely to indicate that you are somebody that puts in extra effort.

So it could be having a cert is just one indicator of the group of 'successful people', its an indicator not a driver.

Also a sample size of 700 and a bunch of pie charts is hardly scientific...

JonnyMX hit it on the head. Those who have the motivation to get a certification, learn the technology and proove they know it will get better opportunities and careers because of it.

The certification is a by-product of their career ambition and focus.

Most people in IT aren't completely money driven, its more for career satisfaction. However, I'm sure (and hope) most people here would think experience means a lot more than the certification.

Certifications should prove knowledge and experience, it drives me crazy when people pass exams without real industry experience - That is just a paper cert.

I should say that the same thought doesn't apply to A+/N+ (and any other related entry-level certs). Which have been designed and should be used to teach you enough to get onto the IT job board.

How can anyone know whether they wouldn't have got a job if they didn't have the certs, unless they have a working time machine and travel back in time and take the cert(s) off their CV and submit it again.*
Meaningless stats, imo.





*fair enough they might have been told by their boss, but not many bosses are that forthcoming.

Certification does help to some degree and personally I use it as a learning and motivation tool to gain a better and practical insight to a product. On the flip side experience supercedes certification anytime, well at least from my experience that is any way.