All 2025 compensation surveys and Market Intelligence trends/forecast reports updated on JANUARY 1, APRIL 1, JULY 1, AND OCTOBER 1

FOOTE PARTNERS ANALYST VIEWPOINT

As AI shifts from experimental to operational, cash pay premiums for IT skills compared to IT certifications went in different directions in Q1 2025

by David Foote
As AI shifts from experimental to operational, cash pay premiums for IT skills compared to IT certifications went in different directions in Q1 2025
LINK TO ANALYST REPORT Extra pay awarded by employers to talented tech professionals for 723 non-certified IT skills---also known as cash pay premi...

The gap in average cash pay premiums between certified and non-certified IT skills is now at its widest point in 24 years according to new tech compensation survey research published by Foote Partners.

by David Foote
The gap in average cash pay premiums between certified and non-certified IT skills is now at its widest point in 24 years according to new tech compensation survey research published by Foote Partners.
LINK TO ANALYST REPORT The current average cash pay premium bonus for a single noncertified skill is the equivalent of 9.6 percent of base salary c...
Posted in skills pay, tech pay, technology salary

Volatility in cash pay premiums for 1,340 IT skills and certifications reported in Foote Partners’ IT Skills and Certification Pay Index spiked upwards to its highest level since 2016.

by David Foote
Volatility in cash pay premiums for 1,340 IT skills and certifications reported in Foote Partners’ IT Skills and Certification Pay Index spiked upwards to its highest level since 2016.
Since its launch in 1999, the IT Skills and Certifications Pay IndexTM has continuously tracked cash pay premiums paid to tech professionals by th...
Posted in certifications pay, certifications pay premiums, skills pay, skills pay premiums, tech pay, technology salary

Average market value for 704 non-certified IT skills increased slightly in 4Q 2023, with 211 skills changing in value compared to 183 in the prior quarter. Three groups recorded pay gains: Data/Database, Management/Methodology/Process, and OS skills

by David Foote
Average market value for 704 non-certified IT skills increased slightly in 4Q 2023, with 211 skills changing in value compared to 183 in the prior quarter. Three groups recorded pay gains: Data/Database, Management/Methodology/Process, and OS skills

Extra pay awarded by employers to talented tech professionals for 704 non-certified IT skills---also known as cash pay premiums---increased 0.2 percent in the final quarter after three consecutive quarterly declines in 2023. Despite lackluster performance for the year in which average pay premiums declined one-half percent overall, the current average cash pay premium bonus for a single skill in the 4th quarter was the equivalent of 9.5 percent of base salary, well above the 6.5 average pay premium for IT certifications.

Average market value for 629  IT certifications increased 0.7 percent in the final quarter of 2023 for only the second time in the calendar year despite poor performance for the entire calendar year(similar to non-certified IT skills) in which the average pay premium for certifications declined nearly one percent overall.

This according to the latest quarterly update of Foote Partners’ IT Skills and Certifications Pay IndexTM (ITSCPI) based on compensation data provided by 4,314 private and public-sector employers in 83 U.S. and Canadian cities who partner with our firm to report pay for their 422,770 technology professionals in the U.S. and Canada.

WorldatWork Podcast: Tech Analyst David Foote on the Future of Work: Key Drivers, Implications and How to Prepare

by David Foote
WorldatWork Podcast: Tech Analyst David Foote on the Future of Work: Key Drivers, Implications and How to Prepare
In his fourth appearance on the pod, tech analyst David Foote joins us to discuss the future of work: what it means, what’s driving it, the implications for how we build and manage workforces going forward. David is Chief Analyst & Chief Research Officer for the eponymous Foote Partners. He is an innovator of advanced techniques for benchmarking enterprise tech jobs, skills supply/demand, and compensation; tracking/forecasting tech labor trends; and analyzing human factors in technology development. David is a former Gartner and META Group analyst and Silicon Valley executive.

Top 10 fastest growing, highest paying tech skills – and no certification required

by David Foote
Top 10 fastest growing, highest paying tech skills – and no certification required

Market values of these non-certified skills pay well above average and were still growing in cash pay premiums in the first half of 2018.

Why pay for tech certifications is declining

by David Foote
Why pay for tech certifications is declining

New highly-validated data from 3,305 employers reveals that the average cash market value for hundreds of tech certifications is at its lowest point since 2015.

The IT skills gap is a reality, but doesn’t have to be

by David Foote
The IT skills gap is a reality, but doesn’t have to be
Many businesses face a looming skills gap in IT, but, according to research from Foote Partners, many of the wounds are self-inflicted.

Here's why the skills gap may be killing your digital transformation

by David Foote
Here's why the skills gap may be killing your digital transformation
Most companies approach IT hiring like trying to build a house without a blueprint, says David Foote, co-founder and chief analyst at the research and analysis firm Foote Partners. In part one of a three-part interview, Foote explains what most IT leaders get wrong about hiring, how it's holding their organizations back, and how to get it right.

Why 2018 will be a dramatically different year for tech labor

by David Foote
Why 2018 will be a dramatically different year for tech labor
My take on the tech labor market in 2018—informed by 3,150 research partner employers in the U.S. and Canada—is that it will be conspicuously different than any year in recent history. Unusually so.