Database skills fetching top pay, study says

Technology professionals with key database skills were in the highest demand during the first quarter of 2017. That is the finding of new research from Foote Associates, which tracks compensation for hundreds of specific skillsets in information technology.

So-called pay premiums – the amount of additional compensation paid to a professional that has a skill versus those that do not – rose the largest for database skills then for all other skills tracked by the firm. Non-certified database skills paid 1.7 percent in additional compensation during that time period, while certified database skills paid an extra 0.9 percent.

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Fiber-optic equipment in a data center

While those may not sound like significant amounts, it covers just a three month period, and it was more than twice the rate of increase for the next groups noncertified skills - operating systems skills – which paid an average of 0.8 in premiums, and 50% more than certified networking and communication skills, which paid an average of 0.6 percent in premiums.

Pay premiums are viewed as a reflection on hiring demand, the firm notes, since organizations must increase pay – or not – depending on how much demand there is for a skill and how hard it is to find that skillset in the job market.

Over the past 12 months noncertified database skills have risen 5.6 percent in value, while certified database skills have dropped 0.1 percent, Foote Associates says.

“If there is little leeway in the incumbent’s salary range to sweeten the pot on a counter offer, and a promotion is not a viable pay option, paying workers extra cast for critical skills and certifications can be the perfect solution. Especially when workers possess the very hot certified or noncertified tech skills that other employers are aggressively targeting,” noted David Foote, principal research officer at Foote Associates.

The trick, Foote continued, is to tie extra cash directly to current market value for the hot skill or certification and guarantee that premium for some time period, which is usually one year or more.

Foote Associates also provided a breakdown on the top advanced data analytics skills for the beginning of 2017. These skills are fetching pay premiums anywhere from six percent to 25%. They are:

  • Quik View
  • Data science
  • Apache Struts/Struts 2
  • Apache Flume
  • R language
  • MongoDB
  • Cloudera software
  • Webtrends Analytics
  • Amazon DynamoDB
  • Clojure
  • Apache Pig
  • MapReduce
  • Apache Hive
  • Hbase
  • Sqoop
  • Quantitiative Analysis/Regression Analysis
  • Metadata design and development

The top earning big data related certifications are earning pay premiums of between nine percent to 12% of base salary. They are:

  • Cloudera Certified Professional: Data Scientist
  • SAS Certified Data Scientist
  • Cloudera Certified Developer for Apache Hadoop
  • EMC Data Science Specialist, Advanced Analytics
  • Oracle Certified Master - DBA (OCM)
  • HP ASE Vertica Big Data Solutions Administration
  • SAS Certified Advanced Programmer
  • Cloudera Certified Specialist in Apache HBase
  • Teradata 14 Certified Master
  • IBM Certified Database Administrator - DB2
  • Oracle Certified Professional - DBA (OCP)
This story originally appeared in Information Management.
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