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There are plenty of data and security-related certifications in the top wage-earners this year. According to the new report, “15 Top-Paying Certifications for 2016” from Global Knowledge, here are the 15 that will earn you top dollar, or cost you the most to pay out. This slideshow originally appeared on Information Management
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1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate = $125,871

“Amazon Web Services’ baseline certification, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, debuted in mid-2013 and is intended for individuals with experience designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform,” Global Knowledge explained. “The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification exam addresses a range of topics, including designing on AWS, selecting the appropriate AWS services for your situation, ingress and egress of data to and from the AWS, estimating AWS costs and identifying cost-control measures.”
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2. Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) = $122,954

The nonprofit group ISACA offers and manages the CRISC certification. “Designed for IT professionals, project managers and others whose job it is to identify and manage risks to IT and the business through appropriate information systems (IS) controls, CRISC certification, introduced in 2010, covers the entire life cycle, from design to implementation to ongoing maintenance. It measures two primary areas: risk and IS controls,” Global Knowledge explains.
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3. Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) = $122,291

“ISACA also created the CISM certification. It’s aimed at management more than the IT professional and focuses on security strategy and assessing the systems and policies in place more than it focuses on the person who actually implements those policies using a particular vendor’s platform. More than 27,000 people have been certified since its introduction in 2002, of which 23,220 are currently certified, making this a highly sought-after area with a relatively small supply of certified individuals,” Global Knowledge says.
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4. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) = $121,923

“Offered by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2, CISSP is designed to provide vendor-neutral security expertise similar to the certifications that ISACA offers,” Global Knowledge explains. “Launched in 1994, CISSP consists of an exam based around eight areas in computer security, including security and risk management, communications and network security, software development security, asset security, security engineering, identity and access management, security assessment and testing, and security operations.”
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5. Project Management Professional (PMP®) = $116,094

“The fifth highest-paying and the first that is business-related instead of technical-related, the PMP certification was created and is administered by the Project Management Institute and is the most recognized project management certification available. There are more than 658,000 PMPs worldwide. The PMP certification exam tests five areas relating to the life cycle of a project: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing,” Global Knowledge says.
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6. Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) = $113,320

“CISA certification is ISACA’s oldest, dating back to 1978, with more than 115,000 people certified since its inception. Of those, 78,640 are still certified,” Global Knowledge explains. “CISA certification requires at least five years of experience in IS auditing, control or security, in addition to passing an exam that is only offered three times per year. Maintaining CISA certification means earning continuing education credits each year. CISA certification is usually obtained by those whose job responsibilities include auditing, monitoring, controlling, and/or assessing IT and/or business systems.”
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7. Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Routing and Switching = $112,858

“CCIE Routing and Switching is one of the highest-level certifications available,” Global Knowledge notes. “As such, CCIE Routing and Switching is the highest-paying Cisco certification on this list. With this certification, along with an associate-level and two professional-level certifications, Cisco has the most certifications in the top 15 this year. There are other CCIE tracks—collaboration, data center, security, service provider and wireless—and all command a similarly high salary, but none of the others met our list’s requirement to have at least 100 survey responses.”
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8. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Data Center = $107,045

“Though associate-level Cisco certifications have been around a very long time, the data center certification track that includes CCNA, CCNP and CCIE levels were introduced in 2012,” Global Knowledge writes. “The track is aimed at data center technologies, such as networking (especially with Nexus physical and virtual switches), storage (especially converged storage involving Fibre Chanel over Ethernet [FCoE] and standard network traffic on the same network infrastructure and cards), compute (primarily around Cisco’s UCS technologies), virtualization and various network services, such as global and local load balancing.”
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9. Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP) = $105,008

“CCDP is a professional-level Cisco certification—that’s the level between the entry-level associate tracks and the expert level that we covered in the previous two certifications,” Global Knowledge says. “Professional-level certification tracks show a greater depth and specialization in certain topics than the associate-level ones. CCDP certification is designed for senior-level architects who want to design more advanced network topologies and services. There are three exams required for this certification—two are focused on implementation (routing and switching) and one on architecting.”
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10. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) = $103,297

“The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) created and manages CEH certification, which is aimed at security officers and auditors, site administrators, and others responsible for network and data security,” Global Knowledge says. “The exam is designed to test a candidate’s abilities to prod for holes, weaknesses and vulnerabilities in a company’s network defenses using techniques and methods that hackers employ. The difference between a hacker and a CEH is that a hacker wants to cause damage, steal information, etc., while the CEH wants to fix the deficiencies found.”
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11. Six Sigma Green Belt = $102,594

“Six Sigma is a process of analyzing defects—that is, anything outside a customer’s specifications—in a production/manufacturing process, with a goal of no more than 3.4 defects per million ‘opportunities’ or chances for a defect to occur,” Global Knowledge says. “The basic idea is to measure defects, analyze why they occurred and then fix the issue(s). There is a Six Sigma process for improving existing processes and a slightly modified version for new processes or major changes. Unlike most of the other certifications on this list, Six Sigma Green Belt is not IT-specific.”
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12. Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization (CCP-V) = $102,138

CCP-V is a newer certification from Citrix that replaced Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) certification. That certification was retired in November 2014. “Focused on XenDesktop 7, CCP-V requires that candidates have already earned Citrix Certified Associate – Virtualization (CCA-V) certification. CCA-V certification covers the basics of managing, maintaining, monitoring and troubleshooting, while CCP-V certifies that candidates can deploy applications and virtual desktops using a variety of Citrix technologies, primarily XenDesktop 7, as well as some aspects of XenServer and NetScaler,” Global Knowledge explains.
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13. Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP) Security = $101,414

“The fourth Cisco-related certification and the sixth security-related certification on this year’s list is CCNP Security,” Global Knowledge says. “Achieving CCNP Security certification requires that you have achieved CCNA Security or any CCIE and that you pass four security implementation exams covering secure access, edge network security, secure mobility and threat control.”
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14. ITIL v3 Foundation = $99,869

“ITIL was created by England’s government in the 1980s to standardize IT management,” Global Knowledge explains. “It is a set of best practices for aligning the services IT provides with the needs of the organization. It is broad-based, covering everything from availability and capacity management to change and incident management, in addition to application and IT operations management.”
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15. VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) = $99,334

This is VMware’s oldest and former entry-level certification. “As VMware’s product portfolio has grown over the last several years, the company decided that a single certification was not sufficient,” Global Knowledge writes. “Now, VMware Certified Associate (VCA) is the entry-level certification, and several VCP tracks exist, enabling VCPs to specialize. The only VCP track to break the top 15 this year—due to number of responses, not salary—is the Data Center Virtualization track, the largest and oldest of the VCP tracks.”