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Ever wonder how much that certification is worth? While it’s hard to put a dollar sign on certifications, CompTIA offers some insight in the results from a recent survey.

• 65 percent of employers use IT certifications to differentiate between equally qualified candidates
• 72 percent of employers use IT certifications as a requirement for certain job roles
• 60 percent of organizations often use IT certifications to confirm a candidate’s subject matter knowledge or expertise
• 66 percent of employers consider IT certifications to be very valuable — a dramatic increase from the 30 percent in 2011

Numbers like these make it hard to discount the validity of certifications. Here are the top IT certs you must consider to get ahead in your career:

5. CEH: Certified Ethical Hacker – $95,155

A lab intensive course schedule puts CEH first in our top ten list. The certification path immerses students into an interactive environment where they are shown how to scan, test, hack and secure their own systems. Other topics such as Intrusion Detection, Policy Creation, Social Engineering, DDoS Attacks, and Buffer Overflows

4. CCNP Routing and Switching – $97,038

CCNP Routing and Switching certification validates the ability to plan, implement, verify and troubleshoot local and wide-area enterprise networks and work collaboratively with specialists on advanced security, voice, wireless and video solutions

3. PMP: Project Management Professional – $109,405

PMP is starting to become that “secret sauce” on many resumes. Another report states that having a PMP certification on top of another certification such as a CCNA or Microsoft cert can earn an extra $20k per year. Even on it’s own, training for a PMP certification puts you well over the $100k mark

2. CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional – $110,603

With your CISSP certification, you’ll be heavily prepped with System Security Architecture, Cryptography, Disaster Recovery, and more. Thousands of corporations are looking fill newly formed Information Security Officer
positions to be proactive against attacks

1. CISM: Certified Information Security Manager – $118,348

Information security management is the name of this game. Employers are searching for an improved alignment between the organization’s information security program and its long term goals.

CompTIA Server+ Certification validates the skills to build, maintain, support and troubleshoot server hardware and software. The Server+ exam covers server skills from 6 key IT domains: System Hardware, Software, Storage, IT Environment, Disaster Recovery, and Troubleshooting.

1. Prerequisites/Required Courses: No prerequisites: CompTIA A+ certification

2. Exam Info and career prospects: SK0-004 (100 questions, 90 minutes, 750 out of 900 passing score). CompTIA Server+ certification is designed for network administrators, systems engineers, help desk technicians, hardware technicians, and any IT professional who requires a thorough knowledge of server technology, disaster recovery, and troubleshooting.

3. Cost per Exam and skills measured: $277 CompTIA Server+ training program covers the aptitude and proficiency required to  understand server roles/specializations and interaction within the overall computing environment; identify environmental issues; be familiar with industry terminology and concepts; understand and comply with disaster recovery and physical/software security procedures. uCertify provides CompTIA Server+ study guide for the SK0-004 exam.

4. Work Profile: Those who work — or want to work — in server rooms or data centers, with and around servers on a regular basis, will find the Server+ credential worth studying for and earning. It can also be a stepping stone into vendor-specific server technician training programs at companies like those mentioned in the preceding paragraph, or with their authorized resellers and support partners.

Joshua Limakwe, A Network Engineer at Dimension Data in Johannesburg Area, South Africa, recently tried out uCertify’s ccnp-Route-300-101 – Pearson: CCNP Routing And Switching ROUTE 300-101. Here is what he says about his experience:

“I would like to recommend u Certify IT Online course for the IT specialists and Project managers who want to get certified, I’ve recently completed Cisco CCNP R&S 300-101 and the course was very clear and easy to understand.Go get certified with uCertify…Big up uCertifiy thanks a lot for the great work that you are doing.”

You can check out his complete profile at linkedIn here. If you are planning to take up any of the Cisco certification exam, you can check out the complete details and register for the course of your choice. Get started now.

Adobe is a leading purveyor of graphics, design, publishing, video and interactive web development tools. In support of its software platforms and tool suites, the company offers the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) credential, which covers a broad range of interactive and online content areas. Candidates can certify on a single Adobe product, such as Dreamweaver, or achieve an ACE Specialist or Master certification.

The ACE Specialist tracks include Web Specialist, Design Specialist, Video Specialist, Rich Internet Application Specialist, Technical Communication Specialist and eLearning Suite Specialist. Each track has two or three required exams and candidate choose an elective exam.

The ACE Master tracks are CS Design Master, CS Web Master and CS Video Master (CS stands for Creative Suite). Candidates must pass the current exam for each product in the suite.

There’s a high demand for Adobe savvy professionals. As long as you’re ready and willing to keep up with Adobe’s two-year renewal requirement, it’s a great area in which to pursue certification and stay current and competitive in this field.

1. Prerequisites & Required Courses: No prerequisites
Single product certifications are available for many products, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and more

2. Specialist credential and Exam Info
•  Design Specialist
•  Web Specialist
•  Video Specialist
•  Rich Internet Application Specialist
•  Technical Communication Specialist
•  eLearning Suite Specialist

Master credentials:
•  CS Design Master
•  CS Web Master
•  CS Video Master

2. Number of Exams:

Single-product: One exam
Specialist: Two or three exams plus one elective
Master: One exam for every product in the chosen suite

Note: Specialist and Master exams track the same version, for example, all CS5 or all CS6

3. Cost per Exam:

Most certification exams are $180 USD each; recertification exams $60 USD. Exams are administered by Pearson VUE.

For preparing for the Adobe certification, you can visit

Those IT professionals who can describe themselves as fans of open source operating systems and wish to enhance their skills by learning technologies other than Microsoft, will find that exploring the Linux world may be quite of interest to them. The popularity of the Linux server operating systems has experienced a considerable growth. Here is why we think LPI can help you define your career path.

1. Key Advantages of Linux certification:

• Ample Job Opportunities: with so many companies using Linux, there’s an open positions in many different fields
• Above average pay checks: gain higher flexibility of financial security
• Engaging: Linux is constantly evolving, there’s always something new to learn

2. Linux acceptance continues to rise because:

• Free and Open Source software liberates organizations from expensive and restrictive proprietary software licensing.
• Linux powers more than just servers these days. Smartphones, super computers, cloud technology, and NASA’s Mars rover to name a few.
• Linux is supported by a huge Open Source development community that spans continents and companies. The code base evolves quickly providing resulting in creative and exciting new feature sets.
• Build Confidence

3. Benefits of Earning Linux Essentials:

• Provides a solid foundation of Linux fundamentals
• Complements your education and experience
• Proves you have the Linux skills required for cloud, big data, mobile and network roles
• Is great preparation for advancing to the professional certification track

4. Invest in your Skills

• Certification can prove you have the skills for new responsibilities & opportunities
• You can help your organization run more efficiently and can master more areas at your work place.

With uCertify’s comprehensive e-learning resources that includes course, labs, video-tutorials, testpreps, flashcards, quizzes and exercises you can master any LPI certification exam.