Tech skills lose steam

In a surprising twist, a new report says that pay premiums for noncertified skills are now exceeding the average salary paid for certified tech skills. Research firm Foote Partners' studied the pay scales of certified and non-certified tech professionals in the third quarter of 2007. Non-certified skills on average received a premium of 8.08 percent of base pay based on an analysis of 156 non-certified skills. Certified skills on average received an average premium of 7.97 percent of base pay, based on an analysis of 159 certified skills. While the pay gap is only about 0.1 percent, "that's a huge difference in the world of pay stats," said David Foote, CEO and chief research officer and co-founder of Foote Partners. One of the reasons for this change is that many companies are emphasizing using IT to help create new products, generating more profits and improving customer service. That has translated into IT jobs requiring a bigger mix of technology skills along with business skills. Over the last two years or so, the emphasis at many companies is swinging towards using IT for helping to create new products, generating more profit and sales, improving customer service and relationships, Foote said. Let us know what is happening at your company and others that you see. Are pure tech skills losing out to a broader range of talents?

For more on salaries:
- see this InformationWeek article