Great news hot off the press! Symantec certifications placed #3 and #9 of the top security certifications by salary, according to the recent Certification Magazine 2015 IT security salary survey. Here are a couple highlights from the article:
“Recent estimates project that, by 2019, there will be more than 1.5 million unfilled IT security jobs worldwide.”
“Certification offers a nice double benefit here: Rapid and comprehensive training for aspiring security professionals, and reassurance for hiring managers who want to pay a lot of money to the right person, with the right skills and knowledge.”
What’s also interesting about Symantec’s standing in the certification industry is that our primary competitors are vendor-neutral, product-agnostic companies who only specialize in IT security training and certification. As I socialize a proposed strategy to transform the value of Symantec’s certification program, some folks have asked: How will we or why would we compete with the vendor-neutral IT security certification companies such as ISACA, (ISC)², GIAC, and CompTIA? This survey highlights one reason why we should compete with those companies – people value the Symantec Certification brand as the largest IT cyber security company in the world; and, they are getting higher salaries as a result of branding themselves as Symantec Certified.
Related to the above, I recently met separately with two Symantec Trusted Advisors and asked them: Why get Symantec certified when there are so many other reputable vendor-neutral IT security certifications? They both explained that the vendor-neutral security certifications are more theoretical; and, while they might be complimentary for their careers, they don’t prove they have the knowledge and skill or even the correct product-specific language to do a job. In fact, one of the advisors explained how a customer might require them to take additional Symantec product training to prove they can apply their product knowledge to their organization. Both advisors emphasized that Symantec certification requires real-world experience. One further explained that his past two companies needed re-architecture and that “being Symantec Certified pulled more weight with the customer”. He went on to explain that those customers needed specific help and expertise for their Symantec product environments. “Being Symantec Certified opened more doors.”
My ask is for you to help spread this wonderful news with pride and help contribute to the overall Symantec brand. Want to take it step further? List Symantec Certification as a desirable or required requirement on technical job requisitions.
Thanks to all those who are Symantec Certified and who support the program!