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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

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Like in that one song by the Beatles, the Deep Focus series is saying hello and goodbye to this week's featured certification at the same time. This is the first time that we've ever featured the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) certification (No. 25 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 list) ... and it will also be the last. Well, sort of.

When IT industry association CompTIA created the CASP+ credential in 2011, it differed from the other credentials in CompTIA's industry-leading catalog of vendor-neutral certs by catering to experienced, expert-level security specialists. Beginning in 2024, however, CASP+ will become the cornerstone of a whole new tier of expert-level CompTIA credentials. It will also be rebranded. Goodbye, CASP+. Hello, SecurityX. (We're still going to say CASP+ for the rest of this article.)

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

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $123,590
Median Annual Salary: $122,500
‍How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 8.1 percent
Very Satisfied: 27.3 percent
Satisfied: 31.3 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 26.3 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 7 percent

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $58,052
Median Annual Salary: $45,000
‍How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 4.3 percent
Very Satisfied: 17.6 percent
Satisfied: 43.5 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 17.4 percent
Not At All Satisfied: 17.2 percent

The CompTIA certification program has a global footprint, but 81.1 percent of CASP+ holders who responded to the Salary Survey live and work in the United States. That said, we did hear from credential holders in 13 other countries: Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Canada, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

Cybersecurity tends to be a male-dominated profession, and that trend shows up here as well, with women accounting for just 15.2 percent of those surveyed, while 79.7 percent are men, 1.3 percent are transgender male, 1.3 percent are transgender female, 0.6 percent are gender variant/nonconforming, and 1.9 percent chose not to identify their gender. CASP+ is ostensibly a credential that caters to mid- and late-career experienced professionals, but nearly 60 percent of those surveyed are younger than 45, either between the ages of 19 and 24 (0.8 percent of respondents), between the ages of 25 and 34 (20.5 percent), or between the ages of 35 and 44 (38.6 percent). Even the senior citizens (so to speak) are generally youthful, with 35.2 percent of respondents between the ages of 45 and 54, while just 5 percent are 55 or older, either between the ages of 55 and 64 (4.1 percent), or between the ages of 65 and 74 (0.8 percent).

Nearly 90 percent of CASP+ holders who participated in the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of formal education completed by most of those surveyed is either a bachelor’s degree (41.8 percent of respondents), master’s degree (32 percent), associate’s degree (9.8 percent), doctorate (3.3 percent), or professional degree (1.7 percent). The outliers are the 4.1 percent of those surveyed who topped out with some level of post-high school technical training, the 5.7 percent who exited the realm of  formal education after completing high school, and the 1.6 percent who are currently in the process of furthering their education.

An reasonably solid 77.2 percent of CASP+ holders who responded to the survey are employed full-time, with 3.8 percent holding part-time employment, 6.3 percent on sabbatical, 3.2 percent who are students, and 9.5 percent who are out of work. Among those who have full-time jobs, most are at work either for the standard 40 hours per week (38.8 percent of respondents), for between 41 and 50 hours per week (39.7 percent), or for more than 50 hours per week (9.1 percent). The remaining roughly 12 percent of full-timers enjoy some degree of freedom from rigid scheduling, working either between 31 and 39 hours per week (9.1 percent), between 20 and 30 hours per week (2.5 percent), or fewer than 20 hours per week (0.9 percent).

Security professionals aren’t necessarily tied to a single workplace location. Three years after the COVID wave swept across workplaces, only 37 percent of the CASP+ holders we heard from mostly wear pants on the job, working from home either fewer than 10 hours per week (25.6 percent), or between 10 and 20 hours per week (11.6 percent). That leaves almost two-thirds of those surveyed who are generally in charge of the office dress code, working from home either between 21 and 30 hours per week (18.1 percent), between 31 and 39 hours per week (5 percent), 40 hours per week (21.5 percent), or more than 40 hours per week (18.2 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of CASP+ holders who participated in the survey, 26.6 percent of respondents, are employed at the senior specialist level. The rest, in descending order, are either managers (23.4 percent of those surveyed), senior managers (15.2 percent), directors (11.4 percent), specialists (9.5 percent), rank-and-file employees (7.6 percent), or executives (6.3 percent).

Roughly a third (34.8 percent) of the CASP+ holders who participated in the survey are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more their certified skills for more than a decade. The rest have been plying their certified skills for either between zero years (1 to 11 months) and 2 years (10.8 percent), between 3 and 5 years (22.8 percent), between 6 and 8 years (24.7 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (6.9 percent).

Finally, here’s the view of CASP+ 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: 43.1 percent
Several times a week: 33.5 percent
Several times a month: 7.6 percent
Occasionally: 9.5 percent
Rarely: 6.3 percent

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 48.7 percent
Agree: 32.9 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 10.8 percent
Disagree: 2.5 percent
Strongly Disagree: 5.1 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 34.8 percent
Agree: 41.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 17.7 percent
Disagree: 3.2 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.2 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 30.4 percent
Agree: 40.5 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 20.3 percent
Disagree: 5.1 percent
Strongly Disagree: 3.7 percent

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