What comes to your mind when you think of excelling in your career? Yes, Professional Certifications act as a catalyst in advancing your career and validating your experience and knowledge. 

In today’s ever-evolving job market, professional certifications empower you to reach higher goals. The significant growth and demand for professional certifications have been witnessed in recent years. There is a huge demand for online professional certificates that help an individual reach greater heights. 

According to Statista,

‘The global professional certificates market is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 10%.’

Also, the professional certification segment is expected to continue its growth trajectory. With a projected rate of 2.1%, the user penetration in the Professional Certificates market is highest in the United States. 

Many high-paying professional certifications are in huge demand in the current job market. 

Why Professional Certifications are Important in 2024?

The above data clearly states that professional certifications are vital in advancing a career. Employers prefer skilled and certified professionals over experienced professionals. Certifications validate the updated knowledge. The following points demonstrate why professional certifications are important in 2024:

• Higher Earning Potential: Investing your time and efforts in professional certifications is directly proportional to higher earning potential. It increases your income by adding value to your profile. The specialized training makes you most wanted in the industry, and companies shall be willing to pay to make you a part of the organization. 

 For eg, a certified PMP professional earns 26% more than that of a non-certified PMP professional. 

• Global Opportunities: Professional Certifications help you to advance your career horizons. These certifications build the career ladder, as they open global opportunities widely. It attracts global opportunities with higher salaries.

• Career Advancement: Professional Certification validates your knowledge, and showcases your field of expertise and your commitment towards the field of work. It lays a strong foundation for career advancement as it enables your success key through the skills. 

 For eg: PMP Certification signifies specialization in the field of project management. 

• Continuous Learning: Obtaining a professional certification requires training, and studying, thereby expanding the practical experience. Continuous learning reflects upon your skills, it embarks on the journey of learning. It is not just limited to career advancement, but also deepens your knowledge, makes you expertise, lets you adapt to the evolving industry trends, and helps you deliver value to the organization.

• Recession-proof career: Professional Certification enhances your qualifications and expands your knowledge. Just upgrading yourself with the ever-changing market demand, brings you sustainability even during the recession period. The commitment towards building your skills, helps you remain competitive in the market. Through professional certification make your career a recession-proof career. 

• Higher competitive advantage: Professional Certification differentiates you from other professionals, it is a route to address the gap between knowledge and skills. It helps you to start a new journey, as well as retains you in the current organization, either way, it adds value. There is a higher competitive advantage, with an increment. It is therefore correlated with compensation. 

• Establish professional credibility: Professional Credibility is essential for professional success. But to gain professional credibility, it requires continuous effort and the results are worth it. Professional Certification helps you to deliver and establish professional credibility through effective communication, problem-solving, a positive attitude, etc. 

How to choose the right certification for yourself?

Choosing the right certification depends on several factors, whether to add value to the individual or add value to the organization. Understanding the value of certification is the key here, know the purpose of whether doing a certification is for career advancement or upgrading to new skills. So we have figured out a few factors to choose the right certification.

• Based on industry: The industry keeps changing with technology, while most IT people deal with the skill gap, and the best way to balance it is through training. This professional certification increases productivity as well as knowledge. Look for the requirements in the industry and choose the right certification that helps you with career growth and a better salary. It is always good to narrow your options based on specific job roles, which makes it easier to make decisions.

• Based on level: There are entry-level, mid-level, and senior-level certifications, but all are not alike. The responsibilities, knowledge, and skills acquired from these certifications vary drastically based on the role. By knowing your field of requirement and the advancement to the next level it is easier to choose the certification. 

• Based on salary: Career advancement and salary go hand-in-hand. While you invest your time, efforts, and hard work in obtaining a professional certificate, they reflect upon your financial growth. According to the value of industry certificates, the average salary of an IT professional who has gained certification is $111,334, which is about 7% more than non-certified. 

• Based on interest (career shift): While you opt to change your field of work or career path it might be exciting as well as challenging. Before choosing the certification, you need a self-analysis to have a clear idea about your requirements. There must be research on your interests, requirements, and expectations. Ensure to keep the options precise to your needs. There are many entry-level certifications that can help you to enter the field of your interest. Later with experience and further advanced certifications, you can reach higher career goals.

Top IT certifications to consider in 2024

• PMP: The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the most beneficial for project managers. It helps to manage people and the business process. Get your PMP Certification now. 

According to ziprecruiter.com,

PMP-certified project managers can earn as high as $128,500 annually and an average of $47/hour

• PRINCE2: PRINCE2 certification is a tailor-made course for developing a product from the planning stage to making it a final product. Learn about using the resources effectively and managing project risk. Get your PRINCE2 Certification now. 

According to ziprecruiter.com,

PRINCE2 Certified professionals can earn as high as $96,500 per year

• CAPM: The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is an entry-level certification to lay a strong foundation in project management. Develop skills to meet the project team’s demands. Get your CAPM Certification now. 

According to ziprecruiter.com, 

CAPM Certified professionals can earn as high as $67.07 per hour

• PMI-ACP: The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certificate helps you train with the knowledge of agile skills. Various agile approaches like Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), and test-driven development (TDD), showcase your versatility. Get your PMI-ACP certification now. 

• CSM: The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification is designed for agile and scrum. Learn the framework of managing a team, the concept of building the team, and the guide to applying scrum. It teaches the importance of team collaboration. Get your CSM Certification now.   

• Salesforce Administrator: The Salesforce Administrator certification is specially designed for salesforce administrators and those exploring a career as an admin. With the certification demonstrate the skills of designing, building, and implementing salesforce. Get your Salesforce Administrator certification now. 

According to ziprecruiter.com,

Salesforce  Administrator Certified professionals can earn as high as $147,000 per hour

• DevOps: A DevOps certification helps you boost your field of expertise, advances your career opportunity, and ranks you among the top technical fields. This certification leads the company to better productivity and makes the environment more favorable for the team. Get your DevOps certification now. 

Professional Certifications are a road map toward success in the ever-evolving industry. They not only boost your career but also expand new horizons and opportunities. Start learning and choose the right professional certifications to grow higher. To learn about more certifications, click on the link-  https://www.excelsiorcertification.com/