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Salaries Finally Up for MCPs According to 2005 MCPmag.com Survey

Readers report a significant increase in salary over last year's survey results.

According to the 10th Annual Microsoft Certified Professional Salary Survey, published this week on MCPmag.com in conjuction with Redmond magazine, salaries for Microsoft Certified Professionals and those working in the Microsoft IT space are heading upward.

Readers of both pubications reported an average salary increase of 5.3 percent this year, as compared to a mere 0.3 percent average increase in 2004.

The average salary among readers of MCPmag.com and sister publication Redmond magazine for 2005 is $68,535. Note that experience plays heavily into average salary; for example, those with one to two years of experience report an average salary of $56,500, while those with more than 10 years report an average of $78,600.

The salary survey also looks at the impact of various certifications and related skills on compensation. According to the survey, those holding an MCSE, for example, report an average salary of $67,000 if they work with portable/embedded computing, $72,100 if they work in hardware design and $77,100 if they work with Unix. The top earning skill for in 2005 is outsourcing, with an average salary of $84,139 for those supervising outsourced efforts.

For Microsoft-specific skills, readers report that the the top earnings area is Identity Integration Server ($93,333), followed by BizTalk Server ($90,441), Content Management Server ($85,385) and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter ($84,938).

The survey also offers average salaries by location and industry, all cross-referenced by Microsoft certification.

The survey results were obtained by polling 1,675 U.S.-based readers of MCPmag.com and Redmond magazine. The survey was conducted by Wilson Research, with a margin of error of 3 percent.

To read a truncated version of this salary survey online, go here. To download a PDF of the complete salary survey results, including all the charts referenced above plus many more, go here (free, but registration required).

About the Author

Becky Nagel serves as vice president of AI for 1105 Media specializing in developing media, events and training for companies around AI and generative AI technology. She also regularly writes and reports on AI news, and is the founding editor of PureAI.com. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Users" and other popular AI resources with a real-world business perspective. She regularly speaks, writes and develops content around AI, generative AI and other business tech. Find her on X/Twitter @beckynagel.

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