Cost benefit analysis: 2 popular big data certifications
June 8, 2017 | By Bee Nguyen, TEKsystems Marketing Communications Strategist
With new IT certifications constantly popping up, how do you know if they’re useful for your career?
Well, while companies do prize business intelligence and data management skills, they don’t usually regard data certifications as a substitute for secondary education. That being said, if you already possess a related degree and a passion for analytics, data certifications can help give you an edge if you’re job hunting or angling for a promotion.
Using internal data, we compared salaries for related jobs that required the certification against those that didn’t to come up with potential ROI. Consider the two data certifications below and see how they can benefit you.
MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate): Database
If you’re building a career in data platform administration or business intelligence, this certification can support your credibility. It addresses and validates the technical knowledge needed to work with big data sets using relational databases like Microsoft SQL Server
- Career level: Entry
- Prerequisites: None
- Exam: $127
- How long the certification lasts: Lifetime
- Salary increase forecast: $3,980
MongoDB Certified DBA (Database Administrator)
Database administrators and application developers may wish to add a MongoDB certification to their profile. With a $150 exam price, free prep classes from Mongo and no maintenance fee, the certification is practically free and can add a considerable boost each year to your salary.
- Career level: Mid
- Prerequisites: None
- Exam: $150
- How long the certification lasts: Never expires but is only good for the current MongoDB release
- Salary increase forecast: $14,300
Bonus: Although we didn’t have enough data points to predict a salary ROI, software engineers and may want to consider a CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer certification.
Read about our method for creating salary predictions explore results for 41 popular IT certifications.
Bee Nguyen is a marketing communications strategist for TEKsystems, the No.1 IT staffing company in North America. You can find her on LinkedIn.
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