Salary Survey Extra is a series of dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our annual Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Sometimes tech people and non-tech people find end up at cross purposes because of difficulty in communicating with each other. If only there were some sort of “IT interpreter” capable of bridging the cap and facilitating understanding and cooperation. Oh, wait. It turns out that there really is a thing like that.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL, is like a compendium of information about best practices that maximizes the effective of IT service management (ITSM). AXELOS is the U.K. agency that manages ITIL and certifies ITIL expertise via a tiered certification program that begins, naturally enough, with the aptly titled ITIL Foundation credential.

Popular around the world, ITIL certification can help facilitate a variety of business outcomes and credential holders, even at the Foundation level, are highly sought after. Indeed, AXELOS ITIL Foundation is at No. 49 on this year’s Salary Survey 75 list.

Here’s what the salary picture looks like for ITIL Foundation holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $112,902
Median Annual Salary: $109,440
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 1.7 percent
Very Satisfied: 15.4 percent
Satisfied: 49.1 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 28.8 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 5.1 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $58,250
Median Annual Salary: $53,890
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 1.6 percent
Very Satisfied: 11.5 percent
Satisfied: 38.7 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 37.1 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 11.1 percent

The largest single body of ITIL Foundation holders who responded to the survey is made up of U.S. residents (50 percent of respondents), but we heard from quite a few other corners of the globe. Responses came in from 30 other nations: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Zambia.

As is most often the case, we heard from considerably more men (93.4 percent of respondents) than women (6.6 percent). There are very few ITIL Foundation holders in our group either younger than 25 (2.5 percent of those surveyed are between the ages of 19 and 24) or older than 64 (1.7 percent of those surveyed are between ages of 65 and 74). The biggest group is more or less right in the middle, with 36.4 percent of respondents between the ages 35 and 44, and identical 23.1 percent blocks between the ages of 25 and 34, and between the ages of 45 and 54. That just leaves the 13.2 percent of respondents who are between the ages of 55 and 64.

The highest level of formal education completed by most ITIL Foundation holders is either a bachelor’s degree (37.2 percent of respondents) or master’s degree (38 percent).  The highest level of education completed amount the balance of respondents varies widely: high school diploma (4.1 percent of respondents), post-secondary technical training (10.7 percent), two-year college degree (5.8 percent), doctorate (0.9 percent), professional degree such as a juris doctor (1.7 percent), currently in school (1.6 percent).

Just a shade below 95 percent of ITIL Foundation holders in the survey are employed full time, with the rest either at some level of part-time employment (3.1 percent of respondents) or unemployed (2.3 percent). Among those who have full-time jobs, most either have a standard 40-hours-per-week schedule (34.7 percent) or put in between 41 and 50 hours per week (46.2 percent). We did hear from a tiny sliver of respondents (0.8 percent) whose full-time schedule consists of fewer than 20 hours per week, while 9.1 percent are working between 31 and 39 hours per week, and 9.2 percent are at the office more than 50 hours per week.

In terms of workplace standing, ITIL Foundation holders can be found up and down the company org chart, though most are either specialists (14.6 percent of those surveyed), senior specialists (39.5 percent), or managers (19.7 percent). The rest are either rank-and-file employees (9.5 percent of those surveyed), or considerably higher up the ladder as senior managers (7.3 percent), directors (5.8 percent), or executives (3.6 percent).

Most of those we heard from are have at least a handful of years working with ITIL. A small faction (7.3 percent of respondents) are newcomers, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of their certified skills for between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years. Everyone else is a little steadier on their feet, have handled ITIL for either between 3 and 5 years (19 percent of those surveyed), between 6 and 8 years (14.6 percent), between 9 and 10 years (18.2 percent), or more than 10 years (40.9 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of ITIL Foundation holders on key questions from the survey about how certification impacts job performance:

At my current job I use skills learned or enhanced through certification:
Several times a day: 52.6 percent
Several times a week: 26.3 percent
Several times a month: 8.8 percent
Occasionally: 10.8 percent
Rarely: 1.5 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 39.4 percent
Agree: 43.8 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 13.1 percent
Disagree: 2.2 percent
Strongly Disagree: 1.5 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 24.8 percent
Agree: 42.3 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 22.6 percent
Disagree: 6.7 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.6 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 24.1 percent
Agree: 40.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 27 percent
Disagree: 5.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.9 percent