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 These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

Actual clouds seen in the sky usually appear to be white, or sometimes shades of grey or black. The Microsoft cloud computing service Azure takes its name from a word that means "bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky." So in a sense, you could think of Azure the cloud computing service as being the medium where computing clouds exist, much as an azure sky contains countless billowing white clouds. Poetic.

A significant chunk of the overhauled and still-evolving Microsoft certification program is devoted to Azure and, among the various Azure specializations, security is of critical importance — as it is across the IT spectrum. The Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate credential (No. 25 on our most recent Salary Survey 75 List) is a great way for cloud security specialists to become familiar with Azure.

Here's what the salary picture looks like for Azure Security Engineer Associate holders who responded to the Salary Survey:

All U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $120,870
Median Annual Salary: $122,500
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: [No responses]
Very Satisfied: 33.3 percent
Satisfied: 62.5 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 4.2 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

All Non-U.S. Respondents
Average Annual Salary: $82,930
Median Annual Salary: $75,830
How satisfied are you with your current salary?
Completely Satisfied: 8.3 percent
Very Satisfied: 13.9 percent
Satisfied: 47.2 percent
Not Very Satisfied: 30.6 percent
Not At All Satisfied: [No responses]

The largest single body of Azure Security Engineer Associate holders to participate in the survey is made up of residents of the United States (40.7 percent). The rest of the Azure Security Engineer Associate holders we heard from are spread across 20 other countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Botswana, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Germany, India, Mauritius, Nepal, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

The IT security realm is typically dominated by male professionals, and only a handful of the Azure Security Engineer Associate holders we heard from — 6.4 percent of those surveyed — are not men. The outliers are mostly women (4.8 percent of respondents) with a tiny handful who are transgender male (1.6 percent). Somewhat against type, on the other hand, the Azure Security Engineer Associate is notably youthful, with 75 percent of those surveyed either between the ages of 19 and 24 (1.7 percent), between the ages of 25 and 34 (17 percent) or between the ages of 35 and 44 (57.6 percent). The next-largest group is credential holders between the ages of 45 and 54 — 18.6 percent of respondents — with the remaining 5.1 percent between the ages of 55 and 64.

A notable 85 percent of the Azure Security Engineer Associate holders who responded to the survey have an educational background that includes time spent at a college or university. The highest level of education completed by most Azure Security Engineer Associate holders is either a bachelor's degree (33.9 percent of respondents), master's degree (42.4 percent), doctorate (5 percent), or associate's degree (3.4 percent). The remaining 11 percent of Azure Security Engineer Associate holders either topped off their learning years by completing some level of post-high school technical training (8.5 percent of those surveyed) or departed the realm of formal education after graduating from high school (6.8 percent).

Employment among Azure Security Engineer Associate holders is rock solid, with 95.2 percent of credential holders employed full-time. The rest either have part time jobs (1.7 percent of those surveyed), are enjoying a sabbatical (1.6 percent), or are unemployed (1.5 percent). For most respondents, full-time employment means a regular work schedule of either between 41 and 50 hours per week (40 percent of respondents) or the standard 40 hours per week (33.3 percent). Out of the remaining 26 percent of those surveyed, 14 percent work between 31 and 39 hours per week, 11.7 percent put in more than 50 hours per week, and a fortunate 1 percent have a full-time work schedule of fewer than 20 hours.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reshuffled workplaces worldwide in 2020, and there's strong evidence of that here: A notable 57 percent of the Azure Security Engineer Associate holders we heard from are spending their entire work schedule at home, with 30 percent working beneath the same roof that's overhead when they sleep at night for more than 40 hours per week, and a further 26.7 percent working 40 hours per week from home. The rest haven't entirely separated from their cubicles (or corner offices), working from home either between 31 and 39 hours per week (10 percent of respondents), between 21 and 30 hours per week (5 percent), between 10 and 20 hours per week (11.7 percent), or for fewer than 10 hours per week (16.6 percent).

In terms of workplace standing, the largest single group of Azure Security Engineer Associate holders we heard from are employed at the senior specialist level (30.9 percent). The rest, in descending order, are either senior managers (23.5 percent), managers (14.7 percent), specialists (13.2 percent), directors (10.3 percent), executives (5.9 percent), or rank-and-file employees (1.5 percent).

A solid 42.6 percent of Azure Security Engineer Associate holders who responded to the survey are IT veterans, having worked in a role that directly utilizes one or more of 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 (7.4 percent), between 3 and 5 years (25 percent), between 6 and 8 years (14.7 percent), or between 9 and 10 years (10.3 percent).

Finally, here's the view of Azure Security Engineer Associate 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: 45.6 percent
Several times a week: 38.2 percent
Several times a month: 7.4 percent
Occasionally: 8.8 percent
Rarely: [No responses]

Since becoming certified, I feel there is greater demand for my skills.
Strongly agree: 38.2 percent
Agree: 44.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 8.8 percent
Disagree: 6 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.9 percent

Becoming certified has increased my problem-solving skills.
Strongly agree: 26.5 percent
Agree: 44.2 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 17.6 percent
Disagree: 8.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.9 percent

Becoming certified has increased my workplace productivity.
Strongly agree: 26.5 percent
Agree: 47.1 percent
Neither Agree nor Disagree: 14.7 percent
Disagree: 8.8 percent
Strongly Disagree: 2.9 percent

PAST MICROSOFT CERTIFIED: AZURE SECURITY ENGINEER ASSOCIATE DEEP FOCUS FEATURES

2021