The skills that reap pay premiums

When Adam Quiggle upgraded his Cisco Certified Network Associate certification to Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, he boosted his pay by 35%. His new skills -- which command a 10% to 15% premium in most enterprises -- were particularly valuable to the network company that hired him, Multimax, because it was ramping up to build the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the second-largest network in the world next to the Internet.

That was in 2003; the pay premium Multimax now gives CCIEs has leveled off to about 10% to 15%. To earn as much as $20,000 in additional pay, Multimax's staff need to attain cutting-edge skills, particularly in security. A security clearance, the CCIE security certification or security-industry certifications including the Certified Information Security Professional or ISACA's Certified Information Security Manager are in demand.

Such is the story with specialty skills: In today's hot network-convergence areas, specialists can command premiums of 10% to 20% -- or more if they have the right combination of skills and industry background, according to researchers and employers. However, just as quickly as these skills make pay skyrocket, they can lose their value to the new skills required for next-generation network environments, says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer for IT-workforce research firm Foote Partners.

Click to see: Elaine Peters of Bell Canada

Zeus Kerravala, vice president and global practice leader at Yankee Group, describes this as supply and demand, Internet-style. "Things hard to do before, like setting up a switching and routing network, are easy today and don't command so high a salary as things that are new today and harder to do," he says.