It's the most wonderful time of the year, and also one of the busiest. Everyone has a list of things to do over the next several days. Shop for presents. Shop for holiday dinner preparation. Go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Look back across 2015 and think about where you are in life. See Star Wars again. Send out the family Christmas letter. Sing some carols. Talk to the over-the-fence neighbor, or the guys around the water cooler and find out what everyone thought of Star Wars.

For at least some of our loyal followers here at CertMag.com, we hope there's one more thing that you've been meaning to do all month and haven't quite gotten around to yet. But you're going to cross it off the list, maybe just as soon as the last couple of presents have been wrapped. It's been a little more than a month since the Certification Magazine annual Salary Survey began. Have you taken the survey yet?

Like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Salary Survey is the gift that keeps on giving. (We know some of you saw Star Wars last night and are already planning to take an extended lunch break this afternoon, or have a special family outing planned for later tonight.) Except that, in order for the survey to yield its harvest of IT workplace and IT certification data throughout the first several months of 2016, we need the Force to be strong with it. The results are only as good as the level of participation.

Since kicking things off in early November, we've already had several thousand IT pros get involved. We're not as popular as The Force Awakens, but we have, so far, seen some impressive � most impressive � results. There are still two full weeks remaining before we wrap things up and boost our analysis machine from "normal operations" into Kessel Run mode. So we're mustering all of the Jedi-like charisma at our command when we say, "You will take the Salary Survey now. All the way to the end."

Don't think of it as doing our bidding like a duped Stormtrooper. Think of it as giving us a holiday present. We've even got a little something for you, as you may already have heard. Take the Salary Survey, and we'll sign you up for a free one-year subscription to the digital edition of Certification Magazine. That's almost as cool as if we were handing out free lightsabers.

Just remember that, while we're itching to give you a gift, and itching to publish some awesome survey results, we can't make it all happen without your data. Just like a droid from a Star Wars movie, you have vital information that we need, and the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance. Help us, certified IT professionals. You're our only hope. Also, please enjoy a safe and happy holiday season. And may the Force be with you.